Merchant of Venice, The

Synopsis: Video recording of Rupert Goold’s 2011 staging of The Merchant of Venice with Patrick Stewart as Shylock and Susannah Fielding as Portia.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 2011

Reviews: "Rupert Goold, as is his wont, goes for broke by transporting [the production] wholesale to modern Las Vegas, where showbiz fantasy meets speculative capitalism; and the result is, by turns, brilliant, outrageous and excessive... It becomes a vision of the American nightmare... And, although Goold’s production is bound to cause argument, Las Vegas seems a perfect metaphor for a world of financial and romantic fantasy." Michael Billington, The Guardian (20 May 2011).

"The action begins with the company playing blackjack, and shooting craps while being serenaded by an excellent Elvis Presley impersonator (Jamie Beamish) whom we only later discover to be Launcelot Gobbo." Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph. (20 May 2011). Note: The production concludes with a recording of Elvis [the real one] singing ‘Are You Lonesome Tnight’ which includes the lines "all the world’s a stage".

Name: Royal Shakespeare Company
Web: https://www.rsc.org.uk External site opens in new window
Address: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
CV37 6BB

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