Seeing The Merchant of Venice (or as it was then, The Merchant of Stratford) in a condensed children’s version was interesting. It’s one of the more morally confusing Shakespearean plays. Is Shylock really the “bad guy”? Or is it Antonio? Or Christians? Or Jews? So, the most interesting thing to me came in trying to see how the company portrayed difficult issues to an audience full of children.
Some of the Christianity/Judaism conflict was resolved by changing the groups to made-up names. It tended to downplay the prejudiced remarks and bring the other points to the forefront. I’d just been thinking about different paper ideas before coming to the play, and had been dwelling on the thoughts of victimization and mercy. It all seemed so grown up and professional when the thoughts first came, but as I watched the show that changed. The focus of this version was on bullying, which comes down to a children’s version of what I had been saying—who was the victim and who the victimizer? They didn’t answer in the end, but instead posed more questions. I liked that. I get sick of children’s media that gives a voice over at the end that clearly states the moral and how good little girls and boys should act. They’ve got to start thinking for themselves some time.
A point the company made was that no sides were showing mercy. Even Portia, they said, held Shylock to full justice. I don’t agree with that completely. Portia showed mercy when she tried to convince Shylock to just take the money. She already knew the loop hole and the consequences to Shylock. If he would just take the money and walk away, everyone could be happier.
I liked this play a lot. Not only did it make me laugh to see little kids try to get involved in the production (the highlight being the look on Jessica’s face when the actors told her she was going to marry that little boy Lorenzo over there), it helped bring seemingly big or abstract issues down to a more manageable size.
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