This weekend I had the opportunity to an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice for young audiences. It was put on by some students at BYU. I wondered what major themes they would emphasize and if they would adapt some of the key conflicts. Here is what I saw.
First and foremost the show focused on integrating the children into the show. This meant that they 5 main actors chose students to fill in the other roles. With this addition no two of the performances will ever be the same. The kids were on their toes looking for opportunities to participate, and just when they began to get comfortable, a twist was thrown where two of the kids were destined to be married. This got some interesting facial expression from the kids and caused the audiences to laugh.
In setting the stage for the play the staff showed kids bullying based solely on someone being different, this set the stage for one of the critical themes of the Merchant of Venice and the misunderstanding people have of eachother. Instead of pitting Jew vs. Christian the cast pitted major culture vs. a minor culture. Throughout the show you could see how people in essence tend to pick on those they don't understand. Throughout the play Shylock was shown as an outcast, and by the end this had torn him down that he had become even more an outcast and less willing to ever want to belong.
The Actors helped me see more of the emotion that is involved in the play and the relationships became more vivid in my mind. It was different having Antonio be Antonia, but seeing Portia's cunningness before the duke and her plea to Shylock helped solidify the play in my mind. An excellent production that I w
ish I would have taken my niece to see.
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