.........to see The Merchant of Venice 1936. I didn't enjoy it. It made me feel very uncomfortable. I'm not really a fan of Shakespeare but my U3A group organised this outing and I thought it would be 'good for me'. I've only ever seen two Shakespeare plays, when I was at school doing my 'O' Levels, and Merchant of Venice wasn't one of them. I did some research to familiarise myself with the story. What my research didn't tell me was how very antisemitic this play is and the fact that this production was set in London in 1936 just made it worse. I wonder if any of you have seen it and if so what did you think?
The theatre folk were clearly worried about protests or worse because there were security people checking our bags as we went in and we had to open our coats to show we weren't hiding anything I suppose.
I'm going to see The King and I at the same theatre in a couple of weeks, that's more my sort of thing.
We studied it at school, Sue, in 2A2. I remember us having to learn a speech about Portia. “Her name is Portia…” Rog says he can remember learning a speech given by Portia also in his second year in Devon. Must have been a set book then. I really enjoyed reading your very interesting comments.
I. Wasn’t a great fan either at school but I expect it’s taught differently these days….it seemed all double Dutch to me & I hadn’t the interest to find out! Yes a tricky time to produce that if that’s the case….i can’t remember. I would much prefer The King & I too.
We did a couple of Shakespeare books at school, but this one wasn’t one of them. The language is difficult & I often think that people claim to like it because they think they should! Musical theatre is much more enjoyable.
We had to study one Shakespeare play in every year in high school (at that time, high school was 5 years!). The Merchant of Venice was the first one we studied. I'm thinking I was probably 14 years old. Quite honestly, I don't remember anything, and at the time I don't think most of us grasped what was going on. As for now- oh dear! Antisemitism is on the rise in so many countries. A production of this play would require great sensitivity and- it just seems too risky now. Anyhow, Sue, thank you for inviting us to reflect on this. The King and I will be great!
We studied this in high school and even then, I think we were aware or, we were made aware of, the anti-semitism that is rampant in it. At that point I think it had the effect of making most of us think how horrible it was but, given the atmosphere in today's world, who knows how it may be interpreted. I'd like to know how they handled the part about the three caskets and Portia being required to follow her father's direction in choosing a husband.
November 4th, 2023
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
