Just returned from New York City, where I saw The Merchant Of Venice tonight at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This production was staged by Propeller, an all-male British acting troupe and it was fairly provocative. The play itself is problematic to a modern audience because of the blatant anti-Semitism woven into the story of Shylock. This staging was set in a prison, which worked pretty well--especially given with the all-male cast--and lent itself to a darker and more violent take on the play. Shylock sometimes has been played for comic relief, but this production cast him as an unequivocally cold villain bent on vengeance in the form of his "pound of flesh."
