Review

Bare Theatre Review
Robert W. McDowell
October 2, 2008

No-frills version of Shakespeare's "Merchant Of Venice" sends
eyebrows soaring with its characters’ anti-semitic remarks

Raleigh, NC-based Bare Theatre’s takes its trademark no-frills modern-dress presentation of English playwright William Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, directed with brio by Matthew Schedler, on the road -- last weekend to Common Ground Theatre in Durham and this weekend to the Holly Springs Cultural Center -- and mostly hits the mark. Its energetic cast colorfully limn the controversial characters of Immortal Bard’s 1596-97 “comedy” that send eyebrows soaring with their anti-Semitic remarks.

Veteran Triangle actor Fred Corlett gives one of his str ongest performances to date as the much-despised Jewish moneylender Shylock, whose Christian competitors don’t just deride him behind his back -- they literally spit in his face. One of the worst offenders is the financially overextended Venetian merchant Antonio (vividly portrayed by veteran actor Kurt Benrud), whose trading vessels are still very much at sea and who arrogantly agrees to surrender a pound of flesh to Shylock if he defaults on a loan that he reluctantly requests from the successful businessman whose very name has become synonymous with predatory money-lending practices.

Sarah Schmitt adds a crisp characterization as the beautiful and brilliant heiress Portia; and Khoa Pham cuts a fine figure as the handsome but impecunious Bassanio, whose wheedling convinces his friend Antonio to take an ill-advised loan to bankroll a trip to Belmont, so that Bassanio win Portia’s hand by solving the riddle of the three chests.

A jovial Seth Blum, as Bassanio’s bosom buddy Gratiano; a hyper-intense David Klionski, in a dual role as Portia’s royal suitors, the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Aragon; a garrulous Jeff Buckner, as Shylock’s clownish servant Launcelot Gobbo; and an ingratiating Beverly Schieman, as Portia’s maid Nerissa provide comic relief whenever the play threatens to founder on the shoals of racial prejudice.

A bespectacled Loren Armitage, in Clark Kent horn rims, is dashing as Lorenzo, the bashful gentleman admirer of Shylock’s beloved daughter, Jessica; but Bare Theatre managing director Heather J. Hackford renders Shylock’s daughter Jessica, who converts to Christianity so that she can Lorenzo, into such a silly creature that her giggles become the fingernails on the blackboard of this otherwise commendable production of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, which resumes its two-week, two city run this weekend at the Holly Springs Cultural Center.

Bare Theatre presents William Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Friday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 4, at 2 and 8 p.m. at the Holly Springs Cultural Center, 300 W. Ballentine St., Holly Springs, North Carolina 27540. $15 ($8 students, seniors, and active-duty military personnel). 919/567-4000 or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/41845. BARE THEATRE: http://baretheatre.org/next.html. HOLLY SPRINGS CULTURAL CENTER: http://www.hollyspringsnc.us/dept/park/culture/. SHAKESPEARE RESOURCES (courtesy University of Virginia): http://etext.virginia.edu/shakespeare/. E-TEXT OF PLAY (also courtesy UVa): http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/ShaMVF.html (1623 First Folio, edited by John Heminge and Henry Condell) and http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MobMerc.html (1866 Gl obe Edition, edited by William George Clark and William Aldis Wright).