31 - The Merchant of Venice

Whoa! Racist much! By the end of the play Jessica has been made to covert to Christianity in order to marry Lorenzo and Shylock is also made to convert because of some amazing legal loopholes around the whole ‘you owe me a pound of flesh’ argument. Even putting aside the anti-Semitic bit there are other digs at other ‘non-white individuals’; including Portia practically doing cartwheels when she doesn’t have to marry the Prince of Morocco or others of his “complexion”

I have been reminded by a friend that I did in fact see the great Sir Laurence Olivier as Shylock along with Joan Plowright as Portia in a National Theatre Production by Jonathan Miller. How could I have forgotten such a thing you may ask. Well, to be honest it was actually a TV adaptation of the production from back in the 70's which I would have seen on a scratchy video recording at school some ten years later. But those of us too young to have seen the great man perform on stage must be satisfied with these mere scraps.   

And Finally – Yet another birth of a game show! Surely the whole ‘which casket’ task is the forerunner of 80’s favourite ‘3-2-1!’ “Oh bad luck! I’m afraid you don’t win the hand of the rich heiress or the gondola or the Ronco Bloodless Flesh Extractor! Because you’ve picked Dustio Bin! Goodnight and see you next time on ‘Tre-Due-Uno!’”…  

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