THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
"How far that little candle throws his beams
So shines a good deed in a naughty world"
This was the last and arguably the best of the Complete Works American imports. An outstanding performance by F. Murray Abraham, the Oscar-winning star as Salieri in Amadeus 22 years ago, managed to earn our sympathy without glossing over Shylock's unreasonable insistence on revenge. And there were some unusual, and not invariably successful, nuances - Jessica's ultimate isolation, a high camp Balthazar, a perpetually angry Lancelot Gobbo, a repressed homosexual Antonio, all set in a Wall Street environment of dealing screens and Blackberries.
Charles Spencer wrote,
"This is a notably fresh, unexpectedly entertaining production of a deeply unattractive play."
Personal Star Rating [out of five]****
"How far that little candle throws his beams
So shines a good deed in a naughty world"
This was the last and arguably the best of the Complete Works American imports. An outstanding performance by F. Murray Abraham, the Oscar-winning star as Salieri in Amadeus 22 years ago, managed to earn our sympathy without glossing over Shylock's unreasonable insistence on revenge. And there were some unusual, and not invariably successful, nuances - Jessica's ultimate isolation, a high camp Balthazar, a perpetually angry Lancelot Gobbo, a repressed homosexual Antonio, all set in a Wall Street environment of dealing screens and Blackberries.
Charles Spencer wrote,
"This is a notably fresh, unexpectedly entertaining production of a deeply unattractive play."
Personal Star Rating [out of five]****
posted by christopher bland at 12:36 PM
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