Global Shakespeares: Re-creating the Merchant of Venice

Global Shakespeares: Re-creating the Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare is the most performed playwright on the globe; this course brings his play The Merchant of Venice into the 21st century by comparing multiple recent performances, from film and television stagings to an international production that marked the first performance of the play in the former Jewish Ghetto of Venice, Italy. Students will:

• Learn how to read and perform Shakespeare
• Investigate the historical and contemporary context of Shakespeare’s works, including why and how they continue to be read and performed
• Gain insight from Shakespeare scholars, historians, theater professionals, and actors
• Produce and Perform selected scenes using the knowledge and techniques they have learned

This course provides a rare opportunity to see how artists and performers today grapple with a play that is dramatically challenging in its mixture of comic and tragic elements, as well as its portrayal of gender relations and ethnic and religious prejudice. Along the way, Students will learn to read and understand Shakespeare with the help of recorded vignettes on historical and theatrical context by scholars and theater professionals, as well as performance tutorials and reflections delivered by the actors themselves.