Final two shows at the Stratford Festival

We've come to the final two shows of the season at the Stratford Festival, and all in all, a pretty impressive first season for new Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino.    So let's get to the final two and then we'll recap the season and look to the future in a later posting this month.

Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice was one of the late-season openings at the Festival Theatre, and it continues until October 18th.  Brian Bedford was originally scheduled to play the role of Shylock, and in fact he is on the cover of the season brochure to promote it.  But he had to withdraw due to unspecified medical reasons prior to rehearsals and director Cimolino had to call up Stratford Iron Man Scott Wentworth to fill the void on short notice.  All in all it turned out to be an inspired choice.

Wentworth plays two Jews at this season's Festival, Shylock and of course Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, and both he plays with consummate skill; in the case of Shylock, in a rather subdued manner. I like it, and find it works well in the context of what Cimolino is trying to convey as he deals with the rather problematic subject matter of The Merchant of Venice.

Set in Fascist Italy of the 1930s, a period experienced first-hand by Cimolino's parents who came as well from "the Veneto", this Merchant handles the problem of "The Jew" very carefully and thoughtfully.  In his Director's notes, he refers to the considerable contributions Italian Jews had made to society prior to the 1938 introduction of race laws by the Mussolini Fascists.  He decided then to illustrate in this production the similarities between Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and in 1930s Venice.

As a result, we have another modern dress production but it all works very well in the context of the play.  Both sets and costumes are very stylish and illustrate the fact even in Depression-era Italy, there were so-called beautiful people who knew how to live well.

The problem with living as well as they do, in some cases at least, is we sometimes live beyond our means and have to attempt to at least project the image we are doing well in spite of our own personal situation.  That is the case with Bassanio, who asks his friend Antonio, a Venetian merchant, for a loan in order to finance his wooing of the wealthy heiress Portia, who lives in the mythical Belmont.   Antonio is short on cash himself at the moment, so takes out a loan from the Jewish money lender Shylock, whom Antonio and others in his circle despise due to the fact he loans out money to make a profit.

Well, Bassanio succeeds in wooing Portia while Antonio's finances take a hit due to unforeseen circumstances upon the high seas, and he finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to repay the debt to Shylock with a pound of his flesh, the cost of defaulting on the loan demanded by Shylock.  This is where Cimolino and Wentworth show the wisdom of setting out the play as it is, as you find you do have sympathy for an unsympathetic soul, namely Shylock.

The rest of the cast is generally very strong, although some, I found, were a little over the top; in particular Rod Pederson's Launcelot Gobbo.  But he is balanced out by Tom McCamus' restrained Antonio and Michelle Giroux' very regal Portia.  Others in the cast worthy of mention include Steven Sutcliffe as Solanio and Tyrell Crews as a very handsome Bassanio.

There is a great deal of attention to detail in this production by Antoni Cimolino and his crew, but I found it rather funny, being a radio person and all, in the second act when they utilize an old radio to provide background music onstage, it starts immediately when they turn it on.  In 1930s-era Italy as well as just about everywhere else back then, radios would have been tube type contraptions which require about 30 seconds of warming up before volume magically appears.  Just a small thing, but I caught that; it is akin to seeing a tour bus tucked away in the back of a movie set for an old western movie!

In the end, this is a worthy Merchant of Venice, and rates a strong three out of four stars.  It continues at the Festival Theatre until October 18th.

The final show of the season for your humble reporter was Judith Thompson's The Thrill, directed by Dean Gabourie at the Studio Theatre.  It continues only until September 22nd, so you will have to get there soon in order to catch this thought-provoking play.

The Thrill deals with some pretty tough subject matter, specifically the care for those with disabilities of just about any sort.  Thompson clearly points out in the play society has to change their perception if we are to make any progress on this issue.  Add to that the issue of assisted suicide and you can see this is not light summer theatre fare.  What it is, in fact, is quite enlightening and revealing.

The Thrill pits two strong protagonists against each other:  Elora, played by Lucy Peacock, and Nigel Bennett's Julian.  Elora is based on the real-life story of Harriet Johnson, who lived and practised law in Charleston, South Carolina and is a very vocal disability activist, herself confined to a wheelchair.  Her adversary is Julian, inspired by Peter Singer, an author and pop-philosopher of the day.  Here, Julian travels the world to promote his book, titled Wheelbarrow, and his views on caring for the disabled.  As you can imagine, his views are diametrically opposed to Elora's.  He does, however, have to cope with his mother Hannah, who is edging towards dementia and eventually is moved to what Elora refers to as "The Gulag", otherwise known as a nursing home.

Initially, Elora seethes with anger whenever Julian's name comes up, and when her care-giver Francis suggests she meet Julian when he is in town she positively bristles at the thought.  She is, after all, fighting a losing battle with a degenerative disease herself, all the while fighting even harder for those in a similar situation as her own.  But they do meet, discuss their opposing views, and then meet again...and again...

Turns out Julian falls in love with Elora, leading him to rethink his views on the subject as so often happens when it really begins to hit home.  She falls for him, too, and this is where I found myself uneasy with the match just a little bit.  After being so opposed to each other for so long, Julian's brief and quick wooing of Elora strikes me as just too quick.  I know, it is done in the context of the play, but it really doesn't ring true with me right away.  I could see it growing over  a longer period of time, but...all's fair in love and war, I suppose.

The cast is uniformly strong here, with Lucy exceptional as Elora, and Nigel Bennett's Julian just that little bit of a huckster in his promoting his book and views.  Patricia Collins is very good as Julian's mother Hannah, confined to bed for the most part, and Robert Persichini is very strong as Elora's care-giver Francis.

The Thrill asks some hard questions, but the payoff is a wonderful play full of exceptional performances.  It is off the beaten track for Stratford, to be sure, but worth the journey if you have the time before it closes.  It rates a very strong three out of four stars, and continues at the Studio Theatre until September 22nd.

September 8th, 2013.