SUMMER SHAKESPEARE 2022: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SPENT SUMMER WITH SHAKESPEARE

Summer Shakespeare Theatre presented one of the Bard’s most popular and powerful plays, “The Merchant of Venice,” July 22–31 at Appleton North High School. The cast and crew of students from area high schools spent six weeks this summer learning about Shakespeare and the theatre of the Renaissance while preparing a six-show run of the play.

Audiences were treated to elaborate Renaissance costumes, an original musical score composed by Grammy-nominated musician and Appleton North graduate Hillary Reynolds, and some of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters. One of the actors portrayed Shakespeare himself— providing pre-play commentary and mingling with audience members. Audiences were seated directly on the stage to be nearer to the action, which was typical of performances in Shakespeare’s era.

Summer Shakespeare Theatre productions have been popular among the community for more than two decades—this marks the twenty-third year of the program sponsored by the Fox Valley Summer School Consortium. Appleton North High School theatre instructor Ron Parker began the program in the Fox Valley after founding and directing a similar program in Kenosha for 13 years.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for students interested in theatre to study and perform the work of the greatest playwright in the English language,” said Parker. “In addition, students from various schools in the area have a chance to meet and work together."

In “The Merchant of Venice,” one of Shakespeare's most memorable comic tragedies, Bassanio needs to repay a loan to his friend Antonio, a leading merchant of Venice, so he hatches a plot to win the hand of Portia, a young and wealthy heiress. However, to do so, he must borrow money from the vindictive Jewish moneylender Shylock, who desires revenge on the Christian Antonio who has berated and abused him, and so demands repayment of the loan in the form of "a pound of flesh.”

“‘The Merchant of Venice’ is such a strong example of how Shakespeare’s works continue to speak to our own times,” said Parker.

“It’s a play that deals with contemporary issues of greed and the destructive consequences of racism, as well as the importance of respect for differences and the healing, redemptive power of love.”

“The play has had a long, storied history due largely to the character of Shylock and the anti-Semitism displayed in the play,” added Parker. “Yet Shakespeare, as he does with so many different groups who were victims of prejudice in his own time including women, Native Americans, and others, gives Shylock one of the most famous anti-racist speeches ever written (‘Hath not a Jew eyes…’) forcing the audience both then and now to see Shylock as more than a stereotype, but as a human being with the same wants, needs, and rights.”

Some unique aspects in Summer Shakespeare Theatre’s production included the use of a “Chorus of Conscience,” a group of actors who represent a character’s state of mind and speak his or her thoughts when the character is alone on stage, as well as a set inspired by Venetian architecture.

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