Another key theme is love and hate. There are many examples within the play that show how these two strong feelings can affect our lives. One of the most obvious is the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio. They would literally do anything for each other. Antonio sacrifices his own life for the happiness of Bassanio. Bassanio says he would do the same for Antonio. He also says, “Life itself, my wife, and all the world are not with me esteem'd above thy life”. They have a strong compassion for each other and neither could live without the other. When this love is compared with the other types of love in the play, it seems the strongest. There is romantic love shown in the play between Portia and Bassanio, Nerissa and Gratiano, and Jessica and Lorenzo. Bassanio only really sought Portia because she was rich and Nerissa and Gratiano got married after only knowing each other for a short while. It is clear that Bassanio and Antonio value their love for each other more than the couples. Shakespeare highlights how love can cause problems. Because of their friendship, Antonio’s life is threatened. On a totally different level, it often seems as though Shylock loves his possessions more than his own daughter. When he is told of his daughter fleeing with much of his possessions he says “ I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!” Also, hate is an obvious factor of the play. There is a strong hatred between Christians and Jews. Launcelot (Shylocks servant) talks of leaving his master and refers to him as “the very devil incarnal.” There is a clear hatred between Shylock and Antonio as Shylock mentions an “ancient grudge”. This hatred leads Shylock not being merciful towards Antonio and seeking his full revenge.
Value and worth is another key theme within the story. There are times when it seems that the women in the play are valued equally, or less so, to possessions. Portia’s dad left a request in his will for each man who wishes to marry her to have to want to marry her for the right reasons. He does this with a small trial where there are 3 caskets, one of led, one of silver and one of gold. Each casket has something written on it and if the correct casket were chosen then the suitor would be worthy or marrying Portia. The led casket is worth the least, however it is the one that grants the marriage. It could be said that it is as though Portia is being given away like another object left in her fathers will. Also, Shylock seems to value his daughter below his money and possessions.
Shylock was played by John McEnery. He seemed to fit into his character naturally. There was no one part in the play where he seemed out of focus and he was always 100% in character. John McEnery was spot on with is body language. He didn’t rely on the script to express his emotions and thoughts. If at any point he was told to freeze in his position, it would be clear what emotion he was expressing, however, it was not overdone. At points in the play when Shylock felt powerful, for example, when he thought he was going to be given the right to kill Antonio, he expressed the feeling of power through his body language. His head was held high and he was stood straight, it was clear that he felt he was in the right. However, at points in the play when Shylock was feeling humiliated and angry, like when he was being spat at or discriminated against as a Jew, his shoulders were hunched over in embarrassment as if he felt low, but the anger and bitterness could be seen in his face. John McEnery developed a perfect and distinctive walk for Shylock. The gestures he used were very distinguishable and different to those of the other characters in the play. Every word spoken by him could be heard clearly. McEnery used his voice as another tool for expressing the emotions of Shylock. When he was angry, he almost spat out his words. Towards the end, when practically everything he had was taken from him, Shylocks voice grew softer and it sounded as though he was in pain and there was nothing he could do about it. The feeling of hopelessness was conveyed brilliantly and caused much of the audience to sympathize with Shylock. Shylock was played so that he fitted with the action tactfully. He did not pull focus when he was not the centre of attention but he was still always in character. He blended into the performance enough so that he wasn’t forgotten and wasn’t always being focused on. The character of Shylock was very convincing. There was not one point in the play where he would have been thought of as John McEnery rather than Shylock.
Another fantastic actor in the play was Craig Gazey who played Launcelot. He had the audience laughing every time he was onstage. Craig Gazey used his body language to create very bold characteristics for Launcelot. When speaking Launcelot’s soliloquy, Craig Gazey used his body language to show how Launcelot was torn between two states of mind. His body jerked from side to side, to show how he was torn between his good conscience and his bad conscience. Other parts of the play when Launcelot’s body language seemed to stand out were when he was showing his dislike to his master, Shylock. When Shylock gave him orders or spoke to him, he showed an air of boredom and impatience. His body was turned away from Shylock in disinterest and he always looked as though he wanted to leave as soon he could. Craig Gazey’s body language was never over powering, it accompanied his character fittingly. He used his gestures very effectively to express Launcelot’s feelings. His gestures where very large and sudden which definitely fit Launcelot’s personality as he seems to be someone who would always stand out. Craig Gazey used his voice to add to the comic appeal of his character. He had a different accent to the other characters, which gave his character a slight edge. He varied his tone so he was always interesting to listen to. He delivered his lines perfectly and everything he said was understandable. When Launcelot was supposed to be the centre of attention, Craig Gazey made sure he was; it was impossible to be bored while he was speaking. When Launcelot was not the centre of attention, Craig Gazey fitted himself into the action well, complementing the other actors. Because Craig Gazey was always focused, it was easy and interesting to follow the action. He made Launcelot come alive; his performance was very believable.
Mary Charlton did an excellent job of choosing the costumes for the characters. Each character was always wearing something suitable for their personality and status. The costumes were not dull but they still fit easily into the play. They were not distracting from the action but they were something interesting to look at. The colours used in the play seemed to be very earthly colours mostly, like green or brown. This helped towards making sure the costumes were not overpowering the action. The whole stage area was used well and the actors could easily move around it. There was a bridge, which arched out into the audience. This was one of the things that made the set different from sets in other theatres. The action was laid out very well; the actors never blocked each other. It was generally easy to see the action on stage. The space around the groundling’s area was also used at parts of the play. Actors entered the stage from there and some lines were spoken there. This added interest to the play as the action was always in a variety of places. The play was visually interesting as there were things happening in different places and the actors never seemed to stand still for very long. The lighting added to the experience as the whole audience was visible as well as the stage. This meant that the actors had to communicate with the audience. The actors were always visible. As natural light was used to light the stage, nighttime couldn’t be shown through darkness. So, at parts in the play when it was night, extra lighting was used to create the illusion. There was a street lamp by the stage, which was turned on when it was nighttime, and there were torches lit at other parts in the play. This tool was very effective as at these points it was obvious that the night was being portrayed. There were many parts of the play when live sound from a band was used to help create atmosphere or just add to the interest of the play.
I think that 8 out of 10 is an accurate rating for the play. The play was brilliant but at times it lacked some flow. I think that the strongest aspect of the performance was the modernising of the humour in the play. This helped to add interest to the play for those who hadn’t read the book. It also gave many a way to relate the characters of the play to people in our everyday lives. It is hard to say what the weakest component in the play was, but it was probably visibility of the actors. For a groundling, it was often hard to see all the action on the stage.
