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The Merchant in Venice: Shakespeare in the Ghetto

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Abstract

This book records the landmark performance of The Merchant of Venice in the Venetian Ghetto in 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and the 500th anniversary of the Jewish quarter that gave the world the word ‘ghetto’. Practitioners and critics discuss how this multi-ethnic production and its radical choice to cast five actors as Shylock provided the opportunity to respond creatively to Europe’s legacy of antisemitism, racism and difference. They observe how the place and play stand as ambivalent documents of civilization: instruments of intolerance but also sites of cultural exchange.

Keywords Heritage • Compagnia de’ Colombari • Chromaticism • Translation • Ciro Pinsuti • Adaptation • The Merchant of Venice in the Ghetto • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco • Reynaldo Hahn • Shylock • George Braque and Shakespeare • Jews • Murray Abraham • Music • Laurence Olivier • Shakespeare’s trial scenes • Rehearsal • F • Foerster • Shakespeare’s comedies of love • Josef B • Charles and Mary Lamb • Holocaust • Performing Shakespeare • Karin Coonrod • Mock Appeal: Shylock v • Site-specific design • Portia • Narrativization • Gratiano • Otto Taubmann • Designing Shakespeare • Mercy • Mock Trial: Shylock v • Lancelot Gobbo • Jessica • Memory • Music design • Children reading Shakespeare • Costume design • Actors on Shakespeare • Site-specific Shakespeare • Lewis Carroll • Lorenzo • Antisemitism • Site specific performance • Adrian Beecham • Bassanio • Opera • The quality of mercy • Ghetto • The Merchant of Venice • Antonio • Venice • Aestheticism • Aldo Finzi • Theatre design • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Adapting Shakespeare • Fiction • History • Site-specific performance • Lighting design • The Merchant in the Ghetto • Directing Shakespeare • Children’s literature • Humanities

Thema codes DSG • ATD • 5PX-GB-S • 1DST-IT-NVE

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-503-2 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-503-2 | ISBN (PRINT) 978-88-6969-504-9 | Number of pages 238 | Dimensions 16x23cm | Published June 10, 2021 | Language en