Marry me, Jean-Luc!

Thursday night I got to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Merchant of Venice with Patrick Stewart! I have to confess, I wasn't really enthusiastic about the show until I found out he was in it, and by then there were only obstructed view seats. Still, I had a pretty good view of the stage.There was a giant pole in the way, but I could see around it by leaning a little. Plus, that ticket only cost £12, which is less than my train ticket to and from Stratford-upon-Avon.

I have mixed opinions about the show. Patrick Stewart was amazing! There's so much power in his voice, even when he's the quietest person on stage. He just seems worth listening to, no matter what he's saying. I'm pretty sure I'd watch any play he's in.
I'm not a huge fan of the choice to set the play in Las Vegas instead of Venice. The choice of an Elvis impersonator for the Clown certainly fit, and the costumes and sets were very cool. I think if they had left it there and spoken normally, I would have appreciated the show a lot more. But they mangled good Shakespeare with fake American accents! And we're not talking simple Ohio accents, which I could have overlooked, but things like Jersey and Southern accents. Unless you're from Jersey or the South, it's almost impossible to do these accents without over-doing them. The actors crossed that line a couple of times, and while it's funny, it's not what I expect from a Shakespeare play.
The second act mostly redeemed the first, because it had much less of the silly accents and unnecessary flourishes. The courtroom scene was perfect Shakespeare, driven by the actors and the words. For a moment, I really believed Shylock was about to commit murder on stage. I'd read the play on the train, but still I believed it was all over for Antonio.
I think part of my dislike for the show is the unhappy ending. I prefer the happy endings of the comedies, and even Macbeth has a fit ending. After everything Macbeth has done, he dies heroically and dramatically. But at the end of Merchant Shylock is disgraced and forced to convert, Portia is unhappy, and Antonio and Bassanio are unable to be together.

This show was strikingly different from Macbeth, which was in the same theatre with many of the same actors, and used almost no tricks, props, accents, or furniture. I used to think it must be hard to critique theatre, since I was generally pleased with everything I saw. Now I begin to understand, because even though I still like nearly every show I see, I've seen enough in a short span of time that I can really compare them. Merchant was good, but Macbeth was better. Much ado was much better than Midsummer's, which was better than Comedy of Errors. Les Mis is better than Wicked, which is better than Phantom.

And I can safely say that I believe Patrick Stewart is the best actor I have ever seen. He’s just amazing! My biggest disappointment for the evening was that he didn’t come out the stage door after the show. I guess he’s probably sick of all the Trekkies mobbing him after shows, but there were only about five people waiting. Still, I'm so lucky I got to see him at all. He was really great!