Notes on Merchant of Venice by Propeller

Characterisation and Understanding of role and performance 

-          Constantly refer back to the text

-          Ensure full understanding of text

-          look for specific characteristics of each character:

Your characters reaction

Your character’s way of acting

-          Constantly think about what you can see/what each character is to you.

E.g. someone who needs to be wooed.

-          Background research of your piece, relate, react to what would have been going on around you

Symbolism and messages

-          Prison representing the imprisonment of the mind

Ideas of money/love/possession

-          Understand the message of the play

Play about racism not a racist play

-          Explores anti-Semitism (hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.) Doesn’t project anti-Semitism  

-          Aims to make the audience uncomfortable

-          Explores aspects also of modern culture worse to be openly racist or secretly racist and carry on as normal?

Important to not shy away from content/wash away more comic side

Relation to main play

-          Cut out 65% of the full length play

-          Main play – more comedy in the plot, another act, kept trial scene as heart of the play, take everything that leads up to the trail and leave everything else out.

-          “Court room drama”

Ensure you understand what you are saying and the message you are trying to get across.

-          Clues:

Important word at the end of a line

Iambic Pentameter

Constant challenge to make sure the audience understands – overcome by constant process of simplification

Looking at audience whilst aware they are watching them

-          Aim to have a presence in the auditorium

-          Breaking down fourth wall

-          Chairs to the side

-          Set idea earlier to speed up audience understanding

-          Take the show everywhere – easy set easy to adapt to new places

Objective in bringing shortened Shakespeare

-          Why pockets?

-          For younger audiences

-          Began in Kent south east England

-          Getting Shakespeare into schools

-          Every word comes out of Shakespeare’s original, no “dumbing down” not patronising , same pace, same intentions

-          Easier for schools, young children

Company having a break, may do something new e.g. not Shakespeare, mixed gender cast

-          All men

-          “Serendipity of an artistic choice”