Studi e ricerche

The Merchant in Venice: Shakespeare in the Ghetto

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  • Shaul Bassi - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email orcid profile
  • Carol Chillington Rutter - University of Warwick, UK - email

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

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 | Numero pagine 238 | Dimensioni 16x23cm | Pubblicato 10 Giugno 2021 | Lingua en

Copyright © 2021 Shaul Bassi, Carol Chillington Rutter. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.