The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” Return

The first decades of the new millennium have seen an odd return to origins in Shakespeare studies. The Merchant in Venice, a site-specific theatrical production realized during the 500th anniversary year of the “original” Jewish Ghetto, was not only a highlight among the many special events commemor...

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Main Author: Diana E. Henderson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lodz University Press 2017-06-01
Series:Multicultural Shakespeare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/article/view/2282
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author Diana E. Henderson
author_facet Diana E. Henderson
author_sort Diana E. Henderson
collection DOAJ
description The first decades of the new millennium have seen an odd return to origins in Shakespeare studies. The Merchant in Venice, a site-specific theatrical production realized during the 500th anniversary year of the “original” Jewish Ghetto, was not only a highlight among the many special events commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016, but also a more creative and complex response to historicism. With her nontraditional casting of five Shylocks (developed through collaborations with scholars and students as well as her international, multilingual company), director Karin Coonrod made visible the acts of cultural projection and fracturing that Shakespeare’s play both epitomizes and has subsequently prompted. This article, written by a participant-observer commissioned to capture on video the making and performance of Compagnia de’ Colombari’s six-night run in the Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, explores the way this place is—and indeed, the category of place itself is always - a dynamic temporal construct, defying more complacent attempts at simple return (to home, to the text, to the past). Such a recognition allows nuanced, hybrid forms of multicultural theater and Shakespeare scholarship to emerge, and to collaborate more fruitfully.
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spelling doaj.art-b2d0bd0b1b3143e1a772e74a677f19672022-12-22T02:08:20ZengLodz University PressMulticultural Shakespeare2300-76052017-06-01153016117610.1515/mstap-2017-00122282The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” ReturnDiana E. Henderson0Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe first decades of the new millennium have seen an odd return to origins in Shakespeare studies. The Merchant in Venice, a site-specific theatrical production realized during the 500th anniversary year of the “original” Jewish Ghetto, was not only a highlight among the many special events commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016, but also a more creative and complex response to historicism. With her nontraditional casting of five Shylocks (developed through collaborations with scholars and students as well as her international, multilingual company), director Karin Coonrod made visible the acts of cultural projection and fracturing that Shakespeare’s play both epitomizes and has subsequently prompted. This article, written by a participant-observer commissioned to capture on video the making and performance of Compagnia de’ Colombari’s six-night run in the Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, explores the way this place is—and indeed, the category of place itself is always - a dynamic temporal construct, defying more complacent attempts at simple return (to home, to the text, to the past). Such a recognition allows nuanced, hybrid forms of multicultural theater and Shakespeare scholarship to emerge, and to collaborate more fruitfully.https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/article/view/2282site-specific performancejewish ghettovenicekarin coonrodcommemorationthe merchant of venice online
spellingShingle Diana E. Henderson
The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” Return
Multicultural Shakespeare
site-specific performance
jewish ghetto
venice
karin coonrod
commemoration
the merchant of venice online
title The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” Return
title_full The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” Return
title_fullStr The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” Return
title_full_unstemmed The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” Return
title_short The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s „Unheimlich” Return
title_sort merchant in venice shylock s unheimlich return
topic site-specific performance
jewish ghetto
venice
karin coonrod
commemoration
the merchant of venice online
url https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/article/view/2282
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