The Merchant of Venice (review)

The Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta, Georgia—a company committed to performing the works of Shakespeare according to "original practices"—staged two competing interpretations of the role of Shylock in their October 2006 run of the often-controversial and always thought provoking The Merchant of Venice. Doug Kaye—a Suzi Bass award nominee for Lead Actor for his performance as Shylock at the Tavern in January 2006 (reviewed in SB 24.3)—reprised his role for this production (ten shows) and the talented Dikran Tulaine (six shows) returned to the Tavern to deliver a starkly different take on the Jewish moneylender. This experiment of dueling Shylocks allowed audiences to see and hear the full range of possibilities that Shakespeare's text allows. And yet, the disparate performances of Kaye and Tulaine together point to how Shylock's power on stage exists as much in gesture as in his spoken words.

The heightened energy of ordinary gestures is what stood at the center of both Doug Kaye's and Dikran Tulaine's competing performances of Shylock. Doug Kaye's Shylock emerged on stage rubbing his hands, a gesture he continued throughout his performance that, rather than emphasizing an evil nature (which Kaye certainly plays down), became a part of his controlled performance. In his opening scene with Antonio, while Antonio raged and stared down the Jewish moneylender, Kaye's Shylock remained calm, never raising his voice as he laughed and slapped his leg when he offered the bond. As Kaye mentioned to me in a conversation after his performance, he played Shylock believing that he never for a moment thought this bond would get very far, but rather that the bond was a means to have his tormentor "in his pocket," giving him a piece of paper to gloat over with his friends. Furthermore, Kaye's Shylock continued to reflect his cautious nature and sound reasoning in his interactions with his daughter Jessica, to whom he displayed a paternal care and kindness that was notably absent in Tulaine's performance.

Figure 1.

Doug Kaye as Shylock (October 5—15 and 28—29) and Dikran Tulaine as Shylock (October 19—27) for the The New American Shakespeare Tavern's production of The Merchant of Venice. Photographer Jeff Watkins.

In a talkback session after one of his performances, Kaye remarked that he wanted to give Shylock a certain "Jewish way of thinking," or yiddische kopf (kopf meaning "head," thus literally referring to a certain mindset). This was most fully realized in the scene where he erupted after having heard the news about Jessica's abduction. Shylock finally found his voice in this scene, and the change from his earlier appearances on stage was brought forth effectively by Kaye. Here, he revealed Shylock going over the edge; he raged at Solanio and Salerino and emphasized the word bond repeatedly and with spite, as if this bond was the one remaining link to his daughter. Shylock grew maudlin in these moments as Tubal spoke of the ring, but he soon composed himself and became animated. He looked both ways as he left the stage, intent, only at this moment, on seeing his bond fulfilled. It is this sense of Shylock's righteousness that Kaye boldly emphasized and that ultimately led to his downfall. Kaye's Shylock was motivated not by hatred or greed, but by his love of his daughter. While the bond of family had been broken by the Christians, Shylock...