World Theatre "Merchant of Venice"
HE radio version of The Merchant of Venice, which listeners are shortly to hear from YC stations, is based upon the performance which opened the 1953 season at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, One of the most successful plays of the season, it has the kind of cast which brings tears of frustration to the eyes of thwarted producers elsewhere. There is Michael
Redgrave as Shylock; the gracious Peggy Ashcroft as Portia; Bassanio is played by Tony Britton; Jessica by Yvonne Mitchell; and Antonio’ by Harry Andrews. This Merchant, then, is a memorable contribution to the World Theatre series. William Hughes produced it. The Merchant of Venice suffers from being almost too familiar. It is one of those plays which every schoolboy
knows and which he is all too likely to put out of his mind with the last bangto of a text-book. However, the Merchant wins through because it is a supremely actable play. Think of the Master stagecraft in the Trial Scene and the Casket Scene, the exquisite poetry of "In such a night/Stood Dido with a willow in her hand/Upon the wild seabanks, and waft her love/To come again
to Carthage." In later times the production and appreciation of The! Merchant of Venice have been bedevilled by the wretched business of how to treat Shylock-as a comic or tragic figure. The man has as many personalities as Iago, and a tenacity of life equal to that of his legendary Wandering Jew kinsman. The Merchant of Venice will be heard from 1YC (Part 1 at 8.5 p.m. \on Monday, April 25, Part 2 at the same time on _ April 27). from 4YC at 7.50 p.m. on April 27, 2YC and 3YC at 7.51 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. respectively on Sunday, May
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19550422.2.37
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 821, 22 April 1955, Page 18
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298World Theatre "Merchant of Venice" New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 821, 22 April 1955, Page 18
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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