tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528812.post5412061555986622733..comments2023-06-14T08:58:35.243-04:00Comments on Jeff Strabone: two pounds for the price of oneJeff Strabonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13381289400378450933noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528812.post-10761455552780488192007-02-13T12:38:00.000-05:002007-02-13T12:38:00.000-05:00I agree that the cast attempted to play MoV as a c...I agree that the cast <I>attempted</I> to play MoV as a comedy, but their lack of charisma, their lack of wit, and their lazy reliance on the shock of anachronism for laughs meant that they failed in their comic performance. It was not their "lightweight quality" I objected to, nor was there some failure on my part to appreciate that they were trying to play it as a "typical" Shakespearean comedy; rather, I objected to their failure to bring any comic weight to the superficially light touches of the comic moments, and their stilted, clumsy readings of the lines. <BR/><BR/>Their poorly-rendered comic stylings also undermined Abraham's readings of Barabas and Shylock. Abraham did not simply perform Shylock and Barabas as dignified victims of bullying anti-Semites, but was willing to bring out the nastiness and the venality of the characters. His ironic and bitter touches would have been beautifully mirrored in the cheerful banter and witty romance of a well-performed typical Shakespearean comedy. But, alas, 'twas not to be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528812.post-82449809464088784352007-02-13T11:27:00.000-05:002007-02-13T11:27:00.000-05:00The Mighty Bosch is right that the rest of the cas...The Mighty Bosch is right that the rest of the cast is poorly matched with the star, F. Murray Abraham. I saw Malta first, and the cast was like night and day from one night to another, i.e. they were so bad in Malta that they seemed like a different cast in Merchant. Their lightweight quality was not a problem for me in Merchant because they played it as a Shakespearean comedy, which is how the play is classified. They could have been playing A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Delacorte, though a notch below quality-wise.<BR/><BR/>Genre-wise, the Shylock character doesn't really belong in the play. Aside from Malvolio, he is the only unforgiven comedic character in Shakespeare's comedies (unless we think Shakespeare meant Shylock's forced conversion as a reconciliation suitable to a comedy, but that is a thought too horrible to countenance). We tend to forget that the merchant in the title is not Shylock but Antonio.<BR/><BR/>In short, Abraham played Shylock the only way one can for a modern audience: not as a Malvolio but as a man suffering the thousand natural shocks that Jewish flesh was heir to in Europe at the time. The rest of the cast played a Shakespearean comedy as they are typically played.Jeff Strabonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13381289400378450933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528812.post-74278293490507520372007-02-13T00:09:00.000-05:002007-02-13T00:09:00.000-05:00What a peculiar comment! F. Murray Abraham played...What a peculiar comment! F. Murray Abraham played the scenes where Shylock or Barabas was supposed to "act very Jewish" with a sharp edge of irony: what is seen as somehow essential is but a performance for the gentiles. One doesn't want to confuse the performance of religion and the spectacle of identity with some essential characteristic; Abraham didn't.<BR/><BR/>BTW, the "Merchant Ivory" reference in the original post is spot on. <I>Both</I> plays were intrusively directed, and the supporting cast lacked any charisma: it was as if Abraham was performing with a gaggle of cocky, but not supremely talented college drama students.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528812.post-52982967797616801832007-02-12T17:25:00.000-05:002007-02-12T17:25:00.000-05:00I thought he was very good. Acted very Jewish so t...I thought he was very good. Acted very Jewish so that part got highlightedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528812.post-6754641630300892852007-02-12T01:25:00.000-05:002007-02-12T01:25:00.000-05:00David F., welcome to my blog. I had heard you were...David F., welcome to my blog. I had heard you were reading it. Thanks for the props.<BR/><BR/>Strangely, that was my first Merchant. I had already seen thirty-five other Shakespeare plays but never that one. I now have just three left to see on stage. I've seen Pacino on stage in O'Neill, Brecht, and Wilde but never Shakespeare. How was he?Jeff Strabonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13381289400378450933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528812.post-47390152953738523532007-02-11T09:54:00.000-05:002007-02-11T09:54:00.000-05:00Hi Jeff, nice to see that the erudition and wide r...Hi Jeff, nice to see that the erudition and wide range of interest you showed when I met you at Luke's is entering the public domain.<BR/>Did you see Pacino in Shylock?<BR/>Good luck, DavidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com