Hello All, this week we begin our “serious” professional rehearsals with the Bell Shakespeare Company who are going to help us prepare our scenes for performance on November 1st. Here is the PROMO for our performance- please distribute this to your friends!
THE BLOG TOPIC FOR THIS WEEK IS SIMPLY A REVIEW OF YOUR ATTENDANCE AT THE PERFORMANCE OF THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AT THE OPERA HOUSE ON FRIDAY EVENING. WHAT IS A REVIEW? HERE IS THE ANSWER:
IN AROUND 300 WORDS SAY WHAT YOU LIKED MOST ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE. COMMENT ON THE STAGE SET, THE ACTING, THE LIGHTING, THE MUSIC AND, IF YOU CAN, MAKE A COMMENT ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK THIS PARTICULAR PRODUCTION BY THE BELL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY WAS TRYING TO EMPHASISE. FOR EXAMPLE WAS THIS PRODUCTION SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS SHYLOCK OR NOT?
I LOOK FORWARD VERY MUCH TO HEARING AND SEEING YOUR REVIEWS.
MICHAEL
Michael Griffith: Home Page- Literature and Life Summer 2023 
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the performance, as all the actors and actresses performed really well. The cleverly designed stage also, with its beautiful tree standing on a corner and leaves falling down from above, combined with the effective lighting, as realistic representatives of nature in general, rendered it a suitably standard background for all the diverse scenes.
I also liked the temporary disappearance of the non-performing actors, by their turning into statues at the back, instead of repeated walking on and off the stage.
All things considered, it was a successful performance except for two factors: firstly, the performance would have been more realistic had the actors been dressed in the clothing fashions of the time; and secondly, it would have been much more appealing, if the play had been performed strictly according to the original script, without adding, or subtracting anything. By adulterating Shakespeare’s great works, not only is he dishonoured, but the core message of the play – the high position of mercy in human society – in the example of ‘The Merchant of Venice’, could easily be lost, or be allowed to fade into a secondary position.