86. The Merchant of Venice - RST

Oh, Rupert Goold, you marvellous, marvellous man. In some ways it shouldn’t be a surprise (given how he completely rehabilitated Romeo and Juliet for me) that he would produce something just as magical with Merchant of Venice. But having heard that he had transported the story to Las Vegas, I couldn’t quite shake my doubts. Which only goes to prove that I must have more faith. Not only does the setting work, it fits perfectly; not only is it flashy and impressive and feels like an event but it marries that with a genuine cleverness. Transformative is the only word that I can think of, on every level this is transformative and I think I will be hard pressed to ever see the play as a comedy again.