Jonathan Pryce

In a year full of celebrations commemorating the 400-year anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the 1891 Fredonia Opera House will present two thrilling captured live via satellite productions from the world’s most famous stage – Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.  The second of the two productions is The Merchant of Venice, which will be presented on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m.

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most poetically dazzling and morally ambivalent plays. In some of its most highly charged scenes, the bard dramatizes the competing claims of tolerance and intolerance, religious law and civil society, justice and mercy; while in the character of Shylock, he created one of the most memorable outsiders in all theatre.

In the play, Portia, a wealthy heiress of Belmont, is forced to set her suitors upon a challenge.  The winner receives her hand in marriage; the losers lose her hand … and much more.  In Venice, the epicenter of consumption, speculation and debt, Bassanio borrows money from his friend Antonio to finance his attempt.  Antonio, in turn, takes out a loan from the moneylender Shylock. The loan will be repaid when Antonio’s ships return to the city.  But if the ships fail to return, and the money cannot be repaid, Antonio will give to Shylock a pound of his own flesh.  When they do fail to return … Shylock will have his “bond.”

Double Olivier and Tony Award winner Jonathan Pryce plays Shylock in his first appearance at Shakespeare’s Globe.  An internationally acclaimed stage and screen actor, he most recently appeared as Cardinal Wolsey in the television adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.  His extensive theatre work includes Comedians in London and on Broadway for which he won a Tony Award, Hamlet in London, for which he received an Olivier Award, and Miss Saigon, in which he starred on both sides of the Atlantic winning further Olivier and Tony Awards. He also won the Cannes Film Festival and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor for his performance in the film Carrington.

The production also features Daniel Lapaine as Bassanio, Rachel Pickup as Portia and Dominic Mafham as Antonio.

London’s Daily Mail calls it an “exceptionally well-told, well-played, well-paced, well-dressed revival … the Globe at its best!”

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse designed in 1599 and a unique international resource dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare’s work and the playhouse for which he wrote.  These productions were presented live on the Globe’s stage and captured exclusively for satellite transmission throughout the world through Shakespeare’s Globe On Screen.

Tickets to The Merchant of Venice are $15 ($10 Students) and may be purchased in person at the Opera House Box Office or by phone at 716-679-1891, Tuesday through Friday, 1-5 p.m.   They also may be purchased online any time at www.fredopera.org.  In addition, Live in HD Series Flex Subscription tickets ($116 for eight tickets) can be used at any Live in HD Series presentation, including either of the Globe Theatre productions.

The Opera House is equipped with assistive listening headsets for the hearing-impaired.  Simply request one from any usher or Opera House staff member.  Headset funding provided by Robert & Marilyn Maytum, the Dunkirk-Fredonia Lions Club, and by a grant from Theatre Development Fund’s TAP Plus program in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts.

Support for the program also comes from the United Arts Appeal of Chautauqua County, the Arts Services Initiative of WNY Inc., and the Give for Greatness program.