Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” like “The Taming of the Shrew,” has become an almost impossible play to pull off for modern sensibilities: One is about breaking an independent woman like a wild horse; the other shows a pitiless Jewish banker who demands a pound of Christian flesh.
“You would think so,” said Colorado Springs TheatreWorks director Murray Ross, whose “Merchant” opens Friday in the idyllic environs of the Rock Ledge Ranch near the Garden of the Gods. “It certainly has lots of anti-Semitic energies.
“At the same time, this is a clearly a play of our moment. There are productions right now with Patrick Stewart, F. Murray Abraham and Al Pacino playing Shylock. It is difficult and challenging, yes, but this is a play in demand. Racial and religious prejudices don’t go out of style, and neither does the promise of great wealth or financial collapse.”
But today we expect all such wrongs depicted in any story to be eventually righted, and that’s not the case in “Merchant.”
Ross took some time to talk about his theater company, and the dicey conundrums of taking on that play:
Denver Post: So what’s it like to see theater at the Rock Ledge Ranch?
Murray Ross: The ranch is a historic property in a green meadow with a pond nestled at the base of the Garden of the Gods. It is right near Colorado Springs, and yet it turns out to be a world apart. For us, it’s a perfect home. We perform under a custom-made tent that seats 160 people, instantly creating this marvelous, informal, intimate theater environment — that also keeps you dry.
Post: You otherwise perform on the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs campus. But you are not a college theater company, which can be confusing. Explain.
Ross: TheatreWorks is an independent, professional theater that is connected to the university, but is not simply of, by and for it. Meaning, we don’t just use undergraduate actors, and we don’t just play for the university community. We are also part of the larger community. We are like a modest version of the Yale Rep — professional theater that is sponsored by the university it’s associated with.
Post: You recently became the seventh Colorado theater company to sign a contract with the Actors Equity union (and first in the Pikes Peak region). What should that mean to the average audience member?
Ross: It means it’s a step up, an upgrade, a toehold. If this were baseball, it’s as if we’ve gone from Double-A to Triple-A. In terms of our ability to hire professional actors, a necessary bar has been raised.
Post: So, “Merchant”: Is this play the comedy of Antonio — or the tragedy of Shylock?
Ross: It’s absolutely both. It’s an amazingly, heart-stoppingly, brain-scrambling play. A disturbingly charming play.
Post: Your poster says: “It has a gripping plot where good triumphs over evil at the very last minute.” Who are you calling evil?
Ross: Well, Shylock. He’s a guy who actually wants a pound of somebody’s flesh. By most scorecards, that’s clearly evil.
Post: So, let me make a quick case for Shylock: He loved his poor dead wife. He’s looted by his daughter and legitimately disgraced by Antonio. So he makes this ridiculous, hard deal, but in good faith, and both parties agree to the terms. And so then Portia destroys the guy: The state seizes half his property; he has to give the other half to his ingrate daughter — and he’s forced to become a Christian. How persecuted can a guy get? And how is he evil?
Ross: He’s certainly the play’s greatest victim, no question. But it must be pointed out that this is a man who, from the very beginning of the play, announces that his hatred for Christians, and all people who give money away, is implacable.
Q: Haha, fair enough.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
Ticket information: “The Merchant of Venice”
Tragicomedy. Presented by Colorado Springs TheatreWorks at the Rock Ledge Ranch at Garden of the Gods. Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Murray Ross. Starring Christopher Lowell and Jane Noseworthy. Through Aug. 27. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. $10-$30. 719-255-3232 or or
