And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out . . . —Matthew 18:9
Shylock is, of course, the iconic Jewish moneylender. He’s made his fortune letting ducats at interest, and just about every character onstage damns and abuses him for it—including his daughter, Jessica, who, as played here by Phoebe Pryce (yes, Jonathan’s daughter), seems to find her very proximity to him excruciating. Excruciating enough, in fact, that she takes radical steps to distance herself from him. Jessica elopes with a noble goy, Lorenzo, using the old man’s strongbox as a dowry.
No, this Merchant isn’t out to transform Shylock into the protagonist he was never supposed to be. It’s out to achieve something more subtle and disturbing, that Frank certainly didn’t imagine. That something is in the music and dancing, the festive partying that opens the show and punctuates it throughout; in little passages of comic audience participation. The cast get us clapping and laughing along before they let the hate flash out. And then we’re left sitting there, uncomfortable, implicated. v
Through 8/14: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand, 312-595-5600 chicagoshakes.com, sold out
