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The Merchant of Venice

By Nicholas Walsh

The show is two hours and 45 minutes, but needn’t be. Guelph
Little Theatre’s The Merchant of Venice, playing now until
Saturday, is, to put it plainly, lacking. It may, of course, be
community theatre; yet, even so, it lacks focus, it lacks energy, it
lacks a voice.
The play programme introduces the play as containing “two
themes, racism and feminism, that are at the forefront of our
consciousness today.” Such an introduction, however, excludes all
others, such as homosexuality, the use of money, and (the
obvious one) religion, all of which are arguably of greater note in
this play. The production itself, however, contains all of these
elements; unfortunately, none of them are developed to any great
extent, and the staging of each creates an undesired effect.
The only instances in the production that racism is of note
occur during the scenes that the two princes must choose the
correct casket of three to win Portia’s hand in marriage. The
Prince of Morocco’s first words (said to Portia) upon entering are
“Mislike me not for my complexion.” Even if the audience is to
assume that the character is black (the actor is white), the
portrayal, proud and fiery, isolates and subjugates “the other” into
a position in which the audience is presumed to laugh at him. The
same can be said about the portrayal of the Prince of Arragon,
who, although is Spanish, is played Italian, using obvious Italian
stereotypes to evoke laughter from the crowd.
Portia and Nerissa are not portrayed as women in this
production, but rather as little girls, busying themselves with
childish games. Granted, they did succeed in saving Antonio’s
life, but by dressing up as men to do so, they are shown to
succeed only by standards set by men. Then their childish fun
begins, prattling about, laughing and stealing their husbands’
trust for their own amusement.

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