Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Merchant of Liverpool

Running behind, as usual, here are some reactions from the Liverpool run of The Merchant of Venice at the end of January...

The Bardathon goes in depth with the prison setting, exploring how it affected the various relationships within the play and celebrating "a fascinating Merchant, rich in meaning and often powerful in execution." 

Peggy Woodcock lauds the "the charismatic performances of Kelsey Brookfield as the beautiful and feisty Portia, and Chris Myles, in fishnet tights and bare nippled, as the naughty maid Nerissa" in her review for the Crewe Chronicle, but bemoans the visually monochromatic aspect of the production.

No such complaints in The Guardian's double review of Merchant and Midsummer, where Lyn Gardner joined in praising Kelsey Brookfield's "extraordinary Portia" and declared that "this production is spot-on in every way." 

And last, but not least (for this round, at any rate), is touting of the prison setting as "inspired" over at The Public Reviews, as "the themes of corruption, status, seething tensions, circulation of money, ferocious intolerance and the ‘female’ characters being portrayed as the inmates ‘bitches’ (think ‘the sisters’ in the Shawshank Redemption) all fit perfectly within this framework and mentality."

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