The Las Vegas setting is fantastic for several reasons. The entire stage is bright, gaudy and glamorous – a feast for the eyes and a very apt way of drawing the audiences attention to the entire play’s obsession with wealth. Though it’s Shylock who is lambasted for his financial concern, throughout the play we see that most of his adversaries are equally obsessed with money for one reason or another and placing them all in a casino, strips away the illusion that they aren’t. It equalises them, making them as guilty as each other. Similarly the transformation of Portia’s father’s test into a televised game show, serves to highlight the shallowness of the world and it’s concerns and in many ways both these aspects serve to set Shylock (who cares more for his honour, than his money) and Portia (who is clearly disillusioned by the world she lives in) apart. A final reason I loved the setting is that it reduced to a much smaller location, it made sense of how often the characters met accidentally and, more importantly, it made it feel much more viscerally personal to me. There was an intense intimacy to each action that made it painful.
Our introduction to the Vegas world of the production involved a truly wonderful opening sequence, I always love it when the RSC starts the show pre-play as the audience enters and this was by far the best I have seen. Starting simply and slowly with Antonio and a dealer at the table, other cast members slowly filtered on the stage and the action grew steadily more frenetic and more stylised with Antonio remaining a still core at it’s heart (the production throughout is beautifully choreographed, with lots of lovely moments – a scene set in an elevator especially stood out as a favourite for me). Until finally Launcelot Gobbo, in the form of Elvis, rises from a roulette table, flanked by feathered casino girls and belts out Bright Light City – it’s spectacular, but also gives a powerful sense of the world we’re entering and I think, if I could get a ticket to see it again, would be highly informative about the interpersonal relationships present. Followed by Scott Handy as Antonio’s softly American, wryly spoken “In sooth, I know not why I am sad,” it gave the entire sequence a sense of power, loss and the beautiful loneliness of being in a crowd.
As well as the flashy setting though, this production is set apart by a series of wonderful performances. Scott Handy impressed me throughout with his calm, nuanced Antonio; whilst I also greatly enjoyed Howard Charles, Caroline Martin, Daniel Percival and Jamie Beamish as Launcelot (Beamish has a remarkable ability to make Shakespeare’s fools and clowns, who sometimes feel out of place in modern productions, completely real and utterly compelling. The scene where he tackles his two ‘consciences’ was a highlight). The real star of the show, however, is Susannah Fielding’s remarkable Portia – handling with ease the character’s glossy exterior and how deeply damaged she is underneath.
Which, of course, can only lead on to Patrick Stewart – whom I’m more than willing to admit I have a difficult relationship with. Although I can see he is putting on an excellent performance as Shylock, I never quite feel it emotionally – somehow even an entire childhood watching Star Trek hasn’t allowed me to form a connection with him as an actor. That said, there is still lots I liked about this performance – especially the gradual reclaiming of his Jewish heritage and his controlled, cultured mannerisms slowly giving way in front of the anti-Semitism he faces. I thought also that the production did a beautiful job of setting Shylock apart from the rest of the “world” – his scenes were characterised by a gorgeous deep, green lighting and the use of classical music, which worked wonderfully and deeply informed by understanding of the character. (There is excellent use of music throughout, with a mixture of classical, Elvis and more modern fare used to characterise characters and the emotion of scenes – though I can’t quite shake the feeling it has left me with that Mr. Goold may have been watching Glee recently).
The handling of Shylock and the anti-Semitism in the play was also instrumental in one of my favourite scenes – the trial. Taking place in a meat packing factory, the scene both had a completely different atmosphere to what had gone before and fit perfectly with the image of Las Vegas gangsters we have become used to in the last sixty or so years. It was violent, disturbing, tense, difficult to watch and equally impossible to take your eyes from. At least part of the tension of the scene was because of the questions and challenges it presented us with as an audience as the production neither softened Shylock’s violent action nor reduces the anti-Semitism directed against him, particularly from Portia, who up to this moment has been a target for our sympathy. We are equally repulsed by both and rather than distancing us from the action, I think we are caught in the conflict of this joint repulsion, implicated ourselves. We can neither rejoice at Portia’s victory, or Antonio’s salvation nor at Shylock’s downfall. On top of which the scene was full of wonderfully telling character moments, such as Bassanio (Richard Riddell) failing to even glance at Portia in her surprisingly convincing mans garb.
The final thing I wish to talk about is the ending of the play (this would be a very good place to stop reading if you have not yet seen the production). Though everything I have already spoken of would have set it apart as an excellent production, it is the ending that Goold has fashioned that makes it truly unforgettable. Usually presented as a comedy, instead we are given a scene of utter devastation – the glamour of the world and of young love utterly stripped away – and each couple is left separate and broken. In the background Launcelot sings a gentle version of Are You Lonesome Tonight, making the most of the songs meaning and its connection with Shakespeare. It was sublime and heartbreaking and I suspect will make it very difficult for me to accept a more traditional ending again.
Unusual, over the top, gaudy, heartfelt and glorious. Another perfect Gooldian production that both reinvents and reinvigorates Shakespeare’s words.
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