Monday, April 19, 2010 - Thursday, April 22, 2010
Shakespeare Week 2010
Free events all week, open to all.
The Merchant of Venice
Act V, Scene i
(Lorenzo to Jessica)
"The moon shines bright: In such a night as this,
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees,
And they did make no noise, in such a night
Troilus methinks mounted the Trojan walls,
And sigh'd his soul towards the Grecian tents
Where Cressid lay that night."
Monday 19 April
18.00: The Merchant of Venice: Inside the
Outsider
FESTA Theatre Company looks at the theme of the ‘outsider'
in The Merchant of Venice and presents the courtroom scene
in which Portia's argument defeats Shylock in his efforts to
secure his bond, a pound of flesh cut from Antonio. FESTA
examines how a director's perspective and the actors'
performances can influence the way Shakespeare's text
affects and is experienced by the audience.
Tuesday 20 April
9.30: Graduate Conference
Shakespeare and his Contemporaries
An all-day conference showcasing the work of Italian
graduate students. Many of the contributions relate to The
Merchant of Venice. The presiding Chairs are Professor Paola
Pugliatti (Università degli Studi di Firenze) and Professor
Keir Elam (Università di Bologna). Professor Paola Pugliatti
and Professor Fernando Cioni (Università degli Studi di
Firenze) are both presenting papers. For full details click here.
Wednesday 21 April
18.00: Lecture
A lover or a tyrant? Performing The
Merchant
Kate McLuskie, Director of the Shakespeare Institute in
Stratford-upon-Avon, explores the way that Shakespeare
plays with ideas of performance to complicate the
connection between pleasure and judgement in responses
to his play.
20.30: Film
The Merchant of Venice
Michael Radford 2004
Al Pacino as Shylock dominates this lavish 2004 adaptation
set in Venice in 1597, when the play was written. The
controversial matter of the play's alleged anti-Semitism is
dealt with at the start in titles highlighting the discrimination
and Christian intolerance of the time. Pacino's red-hatted
‘bloody creditor' expertly captures the complexity of Shylock,
vengefully intransigent in his stand on principle, learning
the hard way that justice without mercy is not justice at all.
The movie is powerful and winning, if not as unambiguous
on the central critical issue as promised at the outset.
Thursday 22 April
16.00: Film
To Be or Not to Be
Ernst Lubitsch 1942
In this sublime comedy, featuring a troupe of Polish actors
outwitting the Nazis in Warsaw, Lubitsch assigns Shylock's
‘Hath not a Jew' speech a special place. The speech is
delivered no less than three times, each time gaining in
depth and strength until the lines acquire a new resonance,
burning with anger as well as sorrow, proclaiming resistance
and the will to survive, rather than revenge. The speech
is given to the actor Felix Bressart, himself a refugee in
Hollywood from Nazi Germany. To Be or Not to Be stars Jack
Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky) and Carole Lombard in her
last film; she was killed in the year the film was released. The
film is light but not flippant; evil is lampooned, but loses
none of its horror for being ridiculed.
18.00 Public Reading
The Merchant of Venice
Shakespeare is meant to be read aloud. Everything is right
there in the dialogue. Without sets, props or costumes
we read the play as a group finding new meaning in the
magic of hearing the lines spoken. All are welcome to come
and listen or to join in the reading, either in English or a
language of your choice. Texts will be available but if you
have your own please bring it.
There will be a light buffet before and during the reading
provided by the Friends of the Library.
Exhibition
The Merchant of Venice: Actors and Scenes
This exhibition, featuring potrayals of Shylock and Portia over the last 200 years and twentieth century stagings and set designs for the play, will be displayed in the library entrance throughout the week.
The images are from Edward Gordon Craig: Black Figures by Lindsay Newman and are reproduced with the consent of the Edward Gordon Craig Estate.
| With thanks to: |
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| Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze |