A review written by 14 year old Stella.
This production captures the essence of friendship, mercy and comedy, adding a modern twist on Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Merchant Of Venice’. With incredible (all male) actors and arrangements, the Pop Up Globe has presented us with a wonderful version of this play. If you’re looking for a lively, interactive, entertaining and relatively low-priced performance to see, this is the one for you!
In ‘The Merchant Of Venice’, a young man, Bassanio (Cameron Moore) borrows money from a friend, Antonio (Kevin Keys), because he needs money to marry his love, Portia (Patrick Griffin). Antonio’s money is invested in his fleet, which is out at sea. So, to help his friend, he goes to Shylock, a Jewish money lender and makes a deal with him. When Antonio is unable to repay the money back to Shylock, he demands a pound of flesh from Antonio.
This play instantly captures the attention of the audience and creates excitement with the actors’ energy. They kick off with a small dance intro which gets the audience clapping along and cheering, before progressing into the storyline.
All of the actors played their parts excellently. They never broke character; even when they weren’t the main focus of the stage, they would make facial expressions reacting to the situation and laugh, acting as if everyone was watching them. Having an all male cast was amusing and gave a sense of how the original Shakespearean plays were performed as they reenacted the past. Today, you wouldn’t find something like this very often. The cast acted with passion and were very lively. An especially entertaining character was Nerissa (Will Alexander), who acted his female part with passion and talent. At one point Nerissa had to pretend she was a man, so the actor, being male of course, lowered his voice in a way which made the audience laugh a lot!
In terms of appearance, their costumes had a traditional style, adopting the features that clothing from Shakespeare’s time may have had. The male actors who were playing female characters had very exaggerated makeup, with pale skin and rosy cheeks. There was live music which came in and out, helping to set the mood. For example, it was used to build tension at times as well as it was softly played in the background during romantic moments. The play also had a very modern aspect to it because they added in little jokes and kiwi twists. For example, there was some dabbing which was quite humorous and also at one point, Jessica greeted another character with ‘Kia Ora’, a well-known Maori term.
The Pop Up Globe was built to mimic the original globe. This was done marvellously. It had many similar features: the shape, the way the seats were arranged, the stage, having no curtains… The actors made very good use of this theatre, not only using the stage, but also moving throughout the crowd, interacting with the audience. This wasn’t the only way they connected with the audience though. They also made eye contact with certain people and made jokes which included the audience. Things like this kept everyone energetic and enthusiastic throughout the play.
It was interesting how the anti-semitism aspect of the play was shown. In the past, it was normal for Christians to be against Jews and they may have made fun of them, which is what happened in ‘The Merchant Of Venice’. For this reason, Shylock (the Jew) wants to have his revenge, which is why he is looked upon as the antagonist of the story. However, today’s world is much more supportive of freedom of religion and everyone has the right to believe what they wish, which is why some people may sympathise for Shylock more today than they would have in the past.
This play teaches us that we should all be careful about borrowing money because if you cannot return it on time, it may lead to many problems. In this case, there was a risk of losing a life!
Overall, ‘The Merchant Of Venice’ was a wonderful and entertaining play to watch. The actors were believable and performed with enthusiasm. This play is suitable for anyone to watch though I would especially recommend it to people who have that passion for Shakespeare and classical literature. The Pop Up Globe brings a story alive and leaves you with a lovely experience.
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