RSC Friends

This young cast, many of whom are making their debut at the RSC this season, bring an energy and freshness to this production. The presence of the cast sitting at the side of the stage and the onstage costume changes contribute to an expectation of vitality and spontaneity

The element of surprise is certainly present from the outset in the passionate sexual nature of Antonio and Bassiano’s relationship – an interpretation that makes sense of Antonio’s willingness to recklessly risk his life to advance Bassiano’s attempt to marry a wealthy heiress, Portia. Bassiano’s suit to win Portia requires money, if his bid is successful he will be a wealthy man free to pursue his relationship with Antonio. In this reading of the play Portia’s plan to test Bassiano’s faithfulness when entrusted with her ring looks a lost cause

The hypocrisy and duplicity that characterises the central love story pervades the play. It is played out in the cruelty and contempt meted out to Shylock the Jew, spat upon by the very men who begged him to loan them money, his daughter seduced by one of them and suborned to rob her father. The baying crowd of Christians in the court scene bring the conflict to an almost unbearable climax. The Jew is vanquished and made apostate, Portia gets her man. It is a sour and illusory triumph built on Venice’s shifting foundations.