Arts Interchange – All That Glisters: Cardinal Stage’s All-Female Merchant of Venice

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“Which is the merchant here, and which is the Jew?” Portia asks as she begins her performance as Antonio’s lawyer (and as a man) in opposition to Shylock’s suit for a pound of flesh. This is the soul of the play. What difference: usury or finance? What difference: Christian or Jew? How are we trapped in the ways in which we make money and the ways we value that practice? “All that glisters is not gold.”

And maybe more importantly: why are all the characters, well-to-do in the society, so depressed?

We’re joined by Randy White, Director, and the actresses who play Shylock and Portia (Liz Pazik and Leslie Ann Handelman) in The Cardinal Stage production of The Merchant of Venice.

Lorenzo:
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

From the Cardinal Stage website:
Artistic director Randy White takes on Shakespeare’s courtroom tour de force with an all-female cast. Marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and the 500th anniversary of the establishment of the Jewish ghetto in Venice, Cardinal’s Merchant is produced in association with IU’s College of Arts and Sciences’ 2016 Themester on “Beauty.”

GUESTS
Randy White, Director
Leslie Ann Handelman (Portia)
Liz Pazik (Shylock)

The Merchant of Venice
OCT 28-NOV 13

Age Recommendation: 12+
Run Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission
Show Location: Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center Auditorium

MUSIC
“For the Love of Money” by the O’Jays
“Monotonous” by Eartha Kitt

CREDITS
Producer & Host: Doug Storm
Executive Producer: Joe Crawford