The Merchant of Venice

Coming from someone who knows very minimal about theatre and has now only seen two plays, I absolutely loved The Merchant of Venice at The Globe.  I had no idea what to expect when we got there, but I was completely blown away when the actors first came on stage.  The atmosphere was just incredible.  The music and the interaction with us peasants in the yard was just awesome and unlike anything I had ever experienced before.  Standing in the yard first seemed like a miserable idea, but I would not have wanted to be anywhere else.  Yes, I wanted to saw my own feet off, but what an experience that was.  I can only imagine what it had been like back in Shakespeare's day. 

On top of just being at The Globe in London, we got to witness an actor who is recognizable and very decorated for his work.  I have known who Jonathan Pryce was for his work as a villain in one of the James Bond movies.  It was unbelievable to be so close to the stage and to really see the small details of his performance as Shylock.  He interpreted his role a bit different than Al Pacino had in the film that was made in 2004, who played up to the sympathy of the audience.  Pryce played a sympathetic Shylock, but I still felt that he played up to the villain role as well.  You really saw a greedy character in his performance, but you couldn't help but to be on his side and have sympathy for him at the end of the play.  The language of the play depicts that he is somewhat greedy when he references he would rather have his money back than his daughter Jessica, and there were times in the play that he acted with such anger and ferocity that made you dislike him, but this was contrasted with the fact that what was most dear to him was stripped of him at the end: his Judaism.  It was quite emotional when you could see his lip quiver as he was christened and yelled out in sadness in the final scene of the play, which you might not have noticed if you were not standing right in front of him as I was.  I believe his performance of Shylock was flawless, but I admit that I am not terribly familiar with theatre, and I was so awestruck at the play and where I was seeing the play that my opinion is not credible at all. 

I'm starting to like this theatre stuff.