The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice (Dramatized)

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Warren Mitchell, Martin Jarvis, Samuel West, Full Cast

In this BBC full-cast production of The Merchant of Venice, love, bigotry, greed and justice are entwined.

Shakespeare's classic play explores the eternal themes of love and hate, mercy and justice, with parallel stories centred on the moneylender, Shylock, and the lovers, Portia and Bassanio. Shylock's angry insistence on the repayment of his debt from Bassanio ends in the Venetian courts, where he demands his pound of flesh. Portia meanwhile, a wealthy young Venetian woman, must marry one of her many suitors. Her late father's will has set the challenge by means of three caskets: one gold, one silver and one lead.

Warren Mitchell stars as Shylock, with Martin Jarvis as Antonio, Samuel West as Bassanio and Juliet Aubrey as Portia.

This superb production of Shakespeare's dramatic and complex play is directed by the award-winning Peter Kavanagh, and features specially-composed music by the renowned Barrington Pheloung.

BBC radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly-formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

In this acclaimed BBC Radio Shakespeare series, each play is introduced by Richard Eyre, former Director of the Royal National Theatre. Revitalised, original and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the modern day.

©2000 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2000 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Who am I to review Shakespeare?

Dramatized, and not bad. Not my favorite Shakespeare, but not bad.

Good for Shakespeare Fans

Clocking in at just over two hours, this BBC radio production of The Merchant of Venice flies by at a serious clip. On the plus side, there isn't much dead air, but on the minus, it takes away some of the drama by keeping the voice actors from incorporating pauses. The voice acting is mostly good, especially the actress voicing Portia, but it gets difficult to tell many of the characters apart. Unfortunately, the most memorable voices are also the most ludicrous and cartoonish. On the whole, however, the actors do their best under their constraints, and some very good work does shine through.

Listeners should be familiar with the play before listening to this, as it would be nearly impossible to follow without knowing what would be happening on stage. For fans of Shakespeare and this play in particular, this audio is a nice addition to your library, but it is no replacement for an actual performance.

Of course, the big question is how this performance treats Shylock, and it's a decent middle ground. Shylock isn't portrayed as a pure villain, but he also isn't portrayed as wholly sympathetic either. His exit is handled a little sloppily, giving the final act the play's trademark uncomfortableness, but it's certainly not the worst handling of Shylock out there.