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EVENT LINKS
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The York Shakespeare Company presents
The Merchant Of Venice
Saturday, November 28, 2009 through Sunday, December 20, 2009
In rotating repertory with Marlowe's THE JEW OF MALTA.
Length: 2 hrs 30 mins
Intermission: Yes
Seating: General Admission
You choose your seats when you get to the theater.
Antonio, a wealthy merchant, is in love with the young Bassanio, a spendthrift who asks him for a loan in order to compete with the princely suitors chasing after Portia, a rich heiress. Antonio enters into a deadly bond with his enemy, Shylock, a Jew who he's frequently spit upon, hindered and publicly humiliated. Antonio fails to pay back the bond and has to sacrifice a pound of his flesh. Portia must prevent Shylock from seizing Antonio's life and neutralize the threat Antonio poses to her marriage with Bassanio. This is Shakespeare's most performed play, more than Hamlet, Macbeth or Romeo & Juliet, and the most misinterpreted; for several hundred years the play has been cut, rewritten, but always controversial. No straightforward comedy, the play defies categorization and every joke is a trap, hinging on the weaknesses of others- their skin color, their religion; a world full of people in fear of that which is different, grasping at straws to increase their own fortunes no matter the detriment to others.
In rotating repertory with Marlowe's THE JEW OF MALTA. If you want to see both plays, click here for a discounted rate.
Both plays have been wrongly accused of being anti-Semitic, as a wronged Jew at each of their centers resorts to revenge. It is the majority of the characters, not the playwrights themselves, who alienate these Jews (along with all outsiders to their culture), forcing them to convert or forfeit all their goods. We are exploring these plays at the JCC to get at the heart of why they are so misunderstood, to reveal the intolerance of the other characters for what it is and to grasp why these stories of bigotry are still, unfortunately, relevant. |
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