"of the autobiography of Alexander Granach, a noted Jewish stage and film actor in Weimar Germany (and later in Hollywood and on Broadway). St. John Ervine's play ""The Lady of Belmont"" (1924) is a sequel to ""The Merchant of Venice"" where the characters meet again some years later. All of the marriages that ended ""The Merchant of Venice"" are unhappy, Antonio is an obsessive bore reminiscing about his escape from death, but Shylock, freed from religious prejudice, is richer than before and a close friend and ""confidante"" of the Doge. Arnold Wesker's play ""The Merchant"" (1976) is a reimagening of"
"to comprehend mercy. Similarly, it is possible that Shakespeare meant Shylock's forced conversion to Christianity to be a ""happy ending"" for the character, as it 'redeems' Shylock both from his unbelief and his specific sin of wanting to kill Antonio. This reading of the play would certainly fit with the anti-semitic trends present in Elizabethan England. Many modern readers and audiences have read the play as a plea for tolerance, with Shylock as a sympathetic character. Shylock's 'trial' at the end of the play is a mockery of justice, with Portia acting as a judge when she has no real"
"When it does, the play argues, Shylock must carry through on the letter of the law or jeopardize the scant legal security of the entire Jewish community. He is, therefore, quite as grateful as Antonio when Portia, as in Shakespeare's play, shows the legal way out. The play received its American premiere on 16 November 1977 at New York's Plymouth Theatre with Joseph Leon as Shylock, Marian Seldes as Shylock's sister Rivka and Roberta Maxwell as Portia. This production had a challenging history in previews on the road, culminating (after the first night out of town in Philadelphia on 8"
"Italian. However, some Shakespeare scholars say that Shakespeare gets many details of Italian life wrong, including the laws and urban geography of Venice. Kenneth Gross writes that ""the play itself knows nothing about the Venetian ghetto; we get no sense of a legally separate region of Venice where Shylock must dwell."" Scott McCrea describes the setting as ""a nonrealistic Venice"" and the laws invoked by Portia as part of the ""imaginary world of the play"", inconsistent with actual legal practice. Charles Ross points out that Shakespeare's Alien Statute bears little resemblance to any Italian law. For later plays such as"
"in the court of the Duke of Venice. Shylock refuses Bassanio's offer of 6,000 ducats, twice the amount of the loan. He demands his pound of flesh from Antonio. The Duke, wishing to save Antonio but unable to nullify a contract, refers the case to a visitor. He identifies himself as Balthasar, a young male ""doctor of the law"", bearing a letter of recommendation to the Duke from the learned lawyer Bellario. The doctor is Portia in disguise, and the law clerk who accompanies her is Nerissa, also disguised as a man. As Balthasar, Portia repeatedly asks Shylock to show"
"literature up until the 20th century depicts the Jew as ""a monied, cruel, lecherous, avaricious outsider tolerated only because of his golden hoard"". Many modern readers and theatregoers have read the play as a plea for tolerance, noting that Shylock is a sympathetic character. They cite as evidence that Shylock's ""trial"" at the end of the play is a mockery of justice, with Portia acting as a judge when she has no right to do so. The characters who berated Shylock for dishonesty resort to trickery in order to win. In addition, Shakespeare gives Shylock one of his most eloquent"
"The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice (Antonio) must default on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and the famous ""Hath not a Jew eyes?"" speech on humanity. Also notable is Portia's speech about ""the quality of"
"of Shakespeare's plays, placing Hazlitt with Schlegel and Coleridge as one of the three most notable Shakespearean critics of the Romantic period. On 26 January 1814, Edmund Kean debuted as Shylock in Shakespeare's ""Merchant of Venice"" at London's Drury Lane theatre. William Hazlitt, drama critic for the ""Morning Chronicle"" since the previous September, was in the audience. He wrote a stunning review, followed by several others applauding (but sometimes censuring) Kean's performances in other Shakespearean tragedies, including ""King Richard II"", ""King Richard III"", ""Hamlet"", ""Macbeth"", ""Romeo and Juliet"", and, what Hazlitt considered the best of Kean's performances, ""Othello"". (These were"
"Smith, Claire Bloom, Sybil Thorndike, Joan Plowright, Caroline John, Lynn Collins, and Gemma Jones. The character of Portia has had a considerable and long-lived cultural impact. Portia (The Merchant of Venice) Portia is the protagonist of William Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"". A rich, beautiful, and intelligent heiress of Belmont, she is bound by the lottery set forth in her father's will, which gives potential suitors the chance to choose among three caskets. If he chooses the right casket, he wins Portia's hand in marriage. If he chooses the incorrect casket, he must leave and never seek another woman in"
"Shakespeare used cross-dressing in his performances. Over the centuries some readers have posited that Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical, and point to them as evidence of his love for a young man. With this said, Shakespeare had characters in his writings that were considered cross-dressers. The four of the five main female characters in his plays were seen as women who cross-dress as men or boys: Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Rosalind in As You Like It, Viola in Twelfth Night. Genderfucking is seen through many forms of life. One of these forms is drag."
"a fellow merchant money. The merchant’s ships sink, yet despite this loss, Shylock demands his money back. His defiant nature supposedly stems from a desire to avenge the unfair treatment of his Jewish people by Christians. Shylock is ultimately humiliated by the Christian court, his daughter disobeys him and marries out of race, and he is swindled out of his bond and forced to convert. At the time it was written, in 16th-century Venice, Jewish citizens were locked in the ghetto at nighttime and were forced to wear identifying hats during the day. Actor Jon Davies asserts that Shakespeare intended"
"panel above."" In Shakespeare's """"Merchant of Venice"","" considered to be one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, the villain Shylock was a Jewish moneylender. By the end of the play he is mocked on the streets after his daughter elopes with a Christian. Shylock, then, compulsorily converts to Christianity as a part of a deal gone wrong. This has raised profound implications regarding Shakespeare and antisemitism. During the Middle Ages, the story of Jephonias, the Jew who tried to overturn Mary's funeral bier, changed from his converting to Christianity into his simply having his hands cut off by"
"actions amount to abandoning her father and betraying him to his enemies. By the last half of the 20th century this ""sentimentally sympathetic reading"" was starting to be rejected, but without a corresponding reassessment of Jessica. She was still viewed as inhabiting primarily negative values, in contrast with the positive values associated with Portia, Bassanio, and Antonio. Writing in 1977, Raymond B. Waddington thinks that: Slights contradicts this view, pointing out that it conflicts with ""a natural audience response"" and argues that ""we must question judgments that deny the most obvious emotional force of Shakespearean plots and characters."" Shakespeare's plays"
"Shakespeare Festival, the play also marked that 500 years had passed since the Venetian Ghetto was instituted. The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice (Antonio) must default on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and the famous"
"chosen a sympathetic approach to the character; even Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, played the role sympathetically. Henry Irving's portrayal of an aristocratic, proud Shylock (first seen at the Lyceum in 1879, with Portia played by Ellen Terry) has been called ""the summit of his career"". Jacob Adler was the most notable of the early 20th century: Adler played the role in Yiddish-language translation, first in Manhattan's Yiddish Theater District in the Lower East Side, and later on Broadway, where, to great acclaim, he performed the role in Yiddish in an otherwise English-language production. Kean and Irving presented a Shylock"
"""The Merchant of Venice"" and ""Othello"" in his 2014 comic novel ""The Serpent of Venice"", in which he makes Portia (from ""The Merchant of Venice"") and Desdemona (from ""Othello"") sisters. All of the characters come from those two plays with the exception of Pocket, the Fool, who comes from Moore's earlier novel based on ""King Lear"". Naomi Alderman's ""The Wolf in the Water"" is a radio-play first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2016. The play continues the story of Shylock's daughter Jessica, who lives in an anti-semitic Venice and practices her Jewish faith in secret. Part of the BBC's"
"comedies, containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his most acclaimed comedies. ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"" is a witty mixture of romance, fairy magic, and comic lowlife scenes. Shakespeare's next comedy, the equally romantic ""Merchant of Venice"", contains a portrayal of the vengeful Jewish moneylender Shylock, which reflects Elizabethan views but may appear derogatory to modern audiences. The wit and wordplay of ""Much Ado About Nothing"", the charming rural setting of ""As You Like It"", and the lively merrymaking of ""Twelfth Night"" complete Shakespeare's sequence of great comedies. After"
"1879, with Portia played by Ellen Terry) has been called ""the summit of his career"". Jacob Adler was the most notable of the early 20th century actors in this role, speaking in Yiddish in an otherwise English-language production. Kean and Irving presented a Shylock justified in wanting his revenge. Adler's Shylock evolved over the years he played the role, first as a stock Shakespearean villain, then as a man whose better nature was overcome by a desire for revenge, and finally as a man who operated not from revenge but from pride. In a 1902 interview with ""Theater"" magazine, Adler"
"""The Merry Wives of Windsor"", ""The Comedy of Errors"", ""Much Ado About Nothing"", ""Macbeth"", ""Othello"", and ""Hamlet"". In 2005 and 2010 Shakespeare by the Sea presented The Taming of the Shrew, with The Tamer Tamed by John Fletcher. The events were also noted for not charging any admission fees; instead, the audience was invited to make a donation at the conclusion of each performance. Actors who have performed in Shakespeare by the Sea productions include Gregor Jordan, who played Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice and who later directed the films ""Two Hands"" (1999), ""Buffalo Soldiers"" (2001), and ""Ned Kelly"""
"the London stage on this occasion. Mien Phelps reopened Sadler's Wells Theatre, under his sole management, on 8 Sept. 1860, Mrs. Young appeared as Rosalind, acting for the first time with Hermann Vezin [q. v. Suppl. II], who appeared as Orlando. She remained with Phelps through the season of 1860–61, adding the parts of Miranda in ""The Tempest"" and Donna Violante in ""The Wonder"" to her repertory. Her chief engagement during 1861 was at the Haymarket Theatre, where on 30 September she played Portia to the Shylock of the American actor Edwin Booth, who then made his first appearance in"
"near Wilmington before an audience of bizarre creatures from Faerie, including the very characters who appear in the play: Titania, Auberon, Peaseblossom, and Robin Goodfellow (Puck). Puck greatly enjoys the play and repeats the theme of the story that while the play does not directly reflect history or even some of the personalities of the characters it is still considered a true reflection of ""reality""; toward the end of the play, he disables the actor representing himself, and represents himself on stage. Meanwhile, Titania takes an interest in Shakespeare's son Hamnet, who plays a small role in the play. The"
"movies, Weber became ""one of the first directors to come to the attention of the censors"". That year, Weber co-directed an adaptation of Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"" with Smalley, who also played Shylock. making her the first American woman to direct a feature-length film in the United States, and the first person who ""directed the first feature-length Shakespearean comedy"". In February 1914, Universal released the four-reel Rex silent film which was also adapted by Weber and Smalley, and was also produced, directed, and starred Weber as Portia, and Smalley as Shylock. The film featured Douglas Gerrard, Rupert Julian, and"
"production of the same play performed in Manchester by the touring company of Henry Irving, one of the great nineteenth-century Shakespearean impresarios. Mr. Irving played Shylock and Ellen Terry performed as Portia. Payne’s most recognized achievement is his method of staging Elizabethan drama, which he called “modified Elizabethan staging.” Inspired by the founder of the Elizabethan Stage Society, William Poel, Payne’s taste for Elizabethan staging was meant to draw on actual Elizabethan period stages. The basic premise of this method was that an audience member should feel that “he [or she] was sharing in the action—not looking at something outside"
"George Peele, Thomas Preston, Robert Wilson, and one Richard Bower. No convincing case has been made for any single candidate. ""Clyomon and Clamydes"" is thought to have had an influence on several of Shakespeare's plays. Most notably, Rosalind in ""As You Like It"" disguises herself in male clothing and flees courtly life for residence among simple shepherds—just as Neronis does in her play. In ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"", the playlet of the mechanicals in Act V bears a resemblance with ""Clyomon and Clamydes"", though in this case the resemblance is clearly in a spirit of parody. And the late romance"
"the 1955 Arden Shakespeare second series edition of the play: ""… nowhere in the play does Shylock show any tenderness towards his daughter …. … as a Jewess, loved by a Christian, Jessica stood in a fair way for the audience's sympathy …."" In Munday's ""Zelauto"", Brisana (Jessica) opposes her father, Trinculo (Shylock), and eventually elopes with Rodolpho (Lorenzo); all presented sympathetically for the audience. Similarly, in Salernitano's 14th ""novella"", the daughter makes off with her father's money, to the same effect. ""In both these examples, the father is avaricious …. It ranks him with the miserly fathers in Elizabethan"
"1980, she played the role of Portia in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of ""The Merchant of Venice"", opposite Warren Mitchell's Shylock. Jones played Mrs. Dashwood alongside Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson in the Academy Award-winning period drama ""Sense and Sensibility"" (1995). Her other notable roles include Mrs. Fairfax in Jane Eyre (1997) Lady Queensbury in ""Wilde"" (1997), Grace Winslow in ""The Winslow Boy"" (1999), Bridget's mother Pam Jones in ""Bridget Jones's Diary"" (2001) and Poppy Pomfrey in ""Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"" (2002), reprising her role in ""Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"" (2009) and"
"English drama include the Jewish moneylender Shylock in William Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"" (1598) and the title character of Ben Jonson's ""Volpone"" (1606). In Aubrey Beardsley's title page for the latter, Volpone is shown worshiping his possessions, in illustration of the lines from the play, ""Dear Saint, / Riches, the dumb god that giv'st all men tongues."" A similar scene takes place in the second act of Alexander Pushkin's short tragedy ""Skupoi rytsar"" (1836). This concerns a son, Albert, kept short of funds by his father, the Baron. Under the title The Miserly Knight, it was made an opera"
"David Garrick. His appearance as Shylock in Shakespeare's ""The Merchant of Venice"" at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1741, mesmerized London audiences. Dismissing the conventional comedic approach to the character, Macklin played the character as consummately evil. Following his debut, George II reportedly could not sleep, while Georg Lichtenberg described Macklin's interpretation of Shylock's first line—""Three thousand ducats""—as being uttered ""as lickerously as if he were savouring the ducats and all they would buy."" Following less than a year of training, Foote appeared opposite Macklin's Iago as the titular role in Shakespeare's ""Othello"" at the Haymarket Theatre, 6 February 1744."
"made a deal with Shakespeare that they will be exiled to America (""To Thine Own Self"" (Reprise)). She says that they always wanted a new country house and they are getting a house in a new country. Portia then arrives, having escaped the tower. She renounces her father's ideals and joins the Bottoms, Shylock, and Nostradamus in exile. They arrive in America and tell the audience of the new opportunities in the New World (""Finale""). Nick hears about the opening of Shakespeare's new masterpiece, ""Hamlet"", to which Nostradamus replies ""I was this close"". Source: Ghostlight Records released the Original Broadway"
"Shylock (play) Shylock is an award-winning monologue in one 80-minute act written by Canadian playwright Mark Leiren-Young. It premiered at Bard on the Beach on August 5, 1996, where it was directed by John Juliani and starred popular Canadian radio host, David Berner. Its American debut was in 1998 at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre where it was directed by Deborah Block, starred William Leach and was “Barrymore Recommended.” It has since been produced at theatres, Shakespeare Festivals and Fringes throughout Canada and the US (including the San Diego Repertory Theatre where it was staged opposite a controversial production of ""The"
"Viola (Twelfth Night) Viola is the protagonist of the play ""Twelfth Night"", written by William Shakespeare. Viola's actions produce all of the play's momentum. She is a young woman of Messaline. In the beginning Viola is found shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria and separated from her twin brother, not knowing whether he is alive or dead, the Sea Captain tells her that this place is ruled by the Duke Orsino, who is in love with the Countess Olivia. Viola wants to serve her, but, finding this impossible, she has the Sea Captain dress her up like a eunuch, so"
"festival hostess, Gertrude Butler Bowmer, died August 19, 1994. The remains of an old Chautauqua building in Ashland's Lithia Park gave Bowmer the idea of staging Shakespeare plays on an outdoor Elizabethan stage. In 1935 he persuaded the government of Ashland to revive the tradition of July 4th celebrations with an important addition: a Shakespearean Festival. The Works Progress Administration helped construct a makeshift Elizabethan stage on the Chautauqua site and Bowmer, college students, teachers, and Ashland citizens mounted two plays, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night, for three performances. Bowmer directed and played the roles of Shylock and"
"and happiness. For the Jessica–Shylock relationship, John Drakakis, the editor of The Arden Shakespeare's third series edition, highlights the verbal connection between ""The Merchant of Venice"" and ""The Jew of Malta"" with Barabas's words when Abigail rescues his gold and Shylock's at Jessica's theft of his Ducats. Another version of the play's plot can be found in Anthony Munday's ""Zelauto: The Fountain of Fame Erected in an Orchard of Amorous Adventures"" (1580). In this version it is Munday's Jessica analogue, Brisana, who pleads the case first in the courtroom scene, followed by Cornelia, the Portia analogue. But the Jessica–Lorenzo plot"