(This was originally posted in General Questions, but the moderator suggested moving it here…)
Shoot! I meant to tape the Masterpiece Theater presentation of The Merchant of Venice on PBS Monday, but I forgot. (I wanted to check it out for possible class use later this year.) I have two questions:
If anyone here saw it, was it any good?
Does anyone know if PBS tends to re-air Masterpiece Theater?
(The only thing I’ve found out so far was via a TV Listings search, and nothing came up under either “Merchant of Venice” or “Masterpiece Theater.” I haven’t tried looking at a PBS site yet, so maybe I should try that?)
Well, thanks for any help.
(Since writing the original message, I’ve looked at the PBS website and found no re-airings scheduled in the near future, at least not in my area. I e-mailed the station and asked them, but haven’t heard back yet. Still, any help would be appreciated.)
I saw it and enjoyed it. It was done in modern (rather severe) dress with a minimalist set which for a purist can be off-putting, but I found it interesting.
It was one of the few times I have seen the lead female characters actually look rather male and maintain that maleness throughout the court scenes. The boyfriend characters were done less, I don’t know, I guess…, macho than I have ever seen them. That also was an interesting angle.
Usually however, there is a sympathy between Portia and Shylock that I did not find in this production. I was surprised at that.
In regard to a video tape: The national center for PBS puts out a catalog quarterly that will, I am sure, contain a video tape of this production of Merchant of Venice by Christmas. Get ahold of your local PBS affilate for the address. The tapes are usually quite reasonably priced.
I enjoyed it, too. Thought the actor who played Shylock (I’m blanking on his name right now) was AMAZING. It was definitely a darker and more depressing interpretation than any I’ve seen on stage, and some of the comedy bits that can still play well got lost, but I’ve found that this is fairly typical of Shakespeare on film in general – it’s easier to make things funny when you’re actually out there in front of the audience.
Portia looked like Harry Potter! It was the glasses.
Anyway, I did watch, and in fact I saw it on stage when I was in London last year – it was even better live. One of the best Shakespeare productions I’ve seen. I think the darkness of the interpretation works well, because much of Merchant just isn’t funny now. (Though Porpentine has a point: some of the bits that can still be played for comedy worked better on stage. I remember the Prince of Aragon being funnier live.) Also, they cut a few things for time – a lot of Jessica and Lorenzo’s dialogue was cut in the TV version.
Interesting choice, too, to see the ring sequence played seriously – the production I saw in Stratford, Ontario (which wasn’t nearly as good as this one) went the normal comic route.
And Antonio gets to kiss Bassanio! That was surprising – or at least it was the first time I saw it.
And there were a lot of little touches I really liked, like having Tubal sit in on the trial, and then walk out as Shylock prepares to take his revenge, and then the bit with the scales when Shylock makes his final exit.
BTW, the actor who played Shylock was Henry Goodman, and I agree that he was fantastic.
