All’s Well That Ends Well >
‘The Merchant of Venice’
venue
Shakespeare House
Dates
15 - 18 March 2023
Director
Leni Robson
A thriving city stock exchange where money talks and nothing else matters.
Antonio is one of the most successful merchants in the city, surrounded by his sycophants who like to work hard but party harder. And no woman, let alone a Jewish woman is going to stop them...enter Shylock, who has risen through the ranks by being able to play the boys at their own game...no matter the cost.
“I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
Big hair, big shoulder pads and big business was the order of the day in this exciting retelling of one of Shakespeare’s more challenging problem plays.
From a review by Theatre Whippet:
“Casting a female Shylock works well, not least because Niki Caister delivers a winning sympathetic performance. As a woman and a Jew she is doubly oppressed in the macho world of money lending. I’ve seen Shylock portrayed as a vindictive and malicious Jewish stereotype and felt deeply uncomfortable; Caister’s Shylock emerges as a fiercely smart businesswoman and mother not to be crossed. She captures the boldness and confidence demanded of anyone who belongs to a community which faces prejudice and discrimination.”
Crew
Director - Leni Robson
Assistant - Emma Duder
Wardrobe Mistress - Charlotte Matthews
Stage Manager - Ken Owen
Properties - James Dean
Lighting Design & Sound - Neil Jones
Set Build - Ken Owen & Neil Jones
Cast
Antonio - Craig Campbell
Bassanio - MontgomeryAshford
Solanio - Benjamin Lawley
Gratiano - Phill Hodgkiss
Lorenzo - Harry Hodder
Shylock - Niki Caister
Jessica - Emma Merrey
Tubal - Maggie Langley
Lancelet Gobbo - Kirsty Whaler
Old Gobbo / Jailer / Servant - James Brereton
Portia - Susie Brayshaw-Thorne
Nerrisa - Alex Wrampling
Prince of Morocco - Richard Davy
Prince of Arragon / Salerio - Martin Weston
Duke of Venice - Chris Scott