The Merchant of Venice (Arlekin Players Theatre)

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Igor Golyak, founder and artistic director of Arlekin Players Theatre, is one of those directors with a great many ideas, not all of them helpful to the plays he directs. His Orchard, a modern version of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, had a great many gimmicks which got in the way of following the Chekhov original. In his production of Tadeuz Slobodzianek’s Polish tragedy Our Class the ideas beautifully enhanced the play. Now in his modern dress production of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (which he also adapted) at the Classic Stage Company using most of the cast of the recent New York production of Our Class, the gimmicks make it impossible to follow the play as well as figure out the interpretation.

One of Shakespeare’s late “problem plays,” The Merchant of Venice’s handling of anti-Semitism has made it both controversial and difficult for production in recent times. Aside from updating the play to the present, Golyak sets his version at The Antonio Show, a television talk show/comedy/variety show with a great deal of anarchic behavior from the cast. Stephen Ochsner who also plays Launcelot Gobbo, Shylock’s servant, is the stage manager for the television taping. The result is to turn Shakespeare’s play into a wild farce which does not make the meaning or the updating very coherent. It does turn the play into a needless comedy for Gen Z audience members but they will have trouble following both the play and the doubling in casting.

There is much rewriting and updating plus uncalled for interpolation like speeches from Romeo and Juliet for Jessica and one of Shakespeare’s sonnets (“My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”) as a rap for Lorenzo added to Act V, Scene 1. The play begins with T.R. Knight on mike as the host of “The Antonio Show” and then he sits behind a desk as the merchant of Venice, and interviews his friend Bassanio seated on a sofa as though this was The Tonight Show. With only eight actors, there are not enough to play all of the parts despite doubling, so that Antonio uses two red hand puppets to stand in for his colleagues Salarino and Salanio.

The casket scene becomes the “The Silver, Gold and Lead Bachelorette” show hosted by Portia. The caskets are depicted as balloons (orange, silver and black) which is startlingly clever, but the second suitor, the Prince of Aragon, has been eliminated as has the description of the silver casket. Most of the fifth act is excised and the play ends with the Trial Scene, originally written as part of Act IV. There are many references to television, pop music, and pop culture.

The most problematic part of the production is its dealing with the anti-Semitism against Shylock the Jew. Richard Topol, the moneylender, is handed a pair of Groucho Marx glasses with a big nose and a big mustache to put on, and appears for the most of the play in a vampire cape and teeth. However, during the trial scene in which he demands his bond of the agreed upon pound of Antonio’s flesh, one of the most gruesome versions of this scene in recent memory, he discards the glasses, first waving a hatchet around and then switching to a knife. Portia disguised as a young male doctor of law is dressed in a Superman costume while Nerissa (Tess Goldwyn), her lady-in-waiting who accompanies her as her law clerk, is similarly dressed in pop-culture costume. The famous “Quality of Mercy” speech is mostly thrown away as an aside. The Trial scene is roped off suggesting a box ring though this concept is not used in any way.

One assumes that the eccentric portrayals by the cast are part of the directorial concept. As Antonio, the melancholy merchant, T. R. Knight is very low-key, totally leaving out the ambiguous relationship with his friend Bassanio. As played by Alexandra Silber, Portia is a suburban debutante, while as her suitor Bassanio, José Espinosa is more like a fraternity brother than Bassanio usually is. Gus Birney as Jessica, Shylock’s daughter in love with the Christian Lorenzo, is a very vapid Jessica and she does little with the poetry in her lines. As Lorenzo, Noah Pacht makes him more unpleasant than usual. Topol’s Shylock is the most affected: first he is seen as a figure of fun and then as a murderous claimant in the Trial scene. This clouds the production’s view of him and its assessment of modern anti-Semitism as he is very unsympathetic.

The sets by Jan Pappelbaum and the costumes by Sasha Ageeva are in keeping with the contemporary style of the production, though at odds with Shakespeare’s play. Ageeva’s mostly unnecessary property designs (applause sign, gold Christmas tree, bubble machine, etc.) are too numerous to enumerate here, though suitable for the modern approach. The purpose and meaning of Igor Golyak’s interpretation of The Merchant of Venice remains obscure while the actors and younger members of the audience appear to be having a wonderful time. Purists will be waiting for the intermission which had been eliminated by opening night.

The Merchant of Venice (through December 22, 2024)

Arlekin Players Theatre and Mart Foundation, in association with Jadow Productions

Lynn F. Angelson Theatre at Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.merchantofveniceplay.com

Running time: two hours without an intermission