A free-fall Bard attempt

BAILA LAZARUS

Some drama studios would think that presenting a Shakespearian play would be enough of a challenge in itself. Not so for Langara's Studio 58.

As if mastering the bard banter wasn't hard enough, the college decided to present Shakespeare "as it's never been done before" – in a style they describe as "free-fall Shakespeare." In this "free-fall" presentation of The Merchant of Venice, the actors only get two weeks of rehearsal; they sit in the first row of the audience, getting up for their parts and then sitting back down with the audience; they have very basic costumes – mostly plain shirts, slacks and long skirts; and they carry cue scripts. But the most intriguing part is that, each night, the audience actually picks who's going to perform.

Each character in the play has more than one actor who can perform in that role. At the beginning of the evening, members of the company come out into the audience with the names of these actors in different boxes. Audience members are chosen at random to select a box and the actor's name is called out. At the back of the stage, a giant casting board is set up (much like the leader board at a golf tournament) and all the names of the actors are slid into place beside their respective characters, so the audience can follow who's playing whom. The result is a different cast every night.

While that might make wary theatre-goers hesitant about what kind of quality play they will get, the fact that renowned actor Antony Holland is directing the performance and plays the role of Shylock should set your mind at ease.

Holland, star of Tuesdays With Morrie, founder of Studio 58 and winner of a Jessie Richardson Award for lifetime achievement, has been acting in Merchant since he was 12, with his first performance of Shylock at age 15. When he takes the stage in the Studio 58 production, what you see and hear is not an actor portraying a character, but someone for whom the role is second nature. The Shakespearian dialogue is so natural to him, it's hard to remember that Holland doesn't actually go around saying things like "Hath not a Jew eyes?" in daily conversation.

As tremendous as Holland is in this role, however, all is not well in the state of Shakespearian Italy. For one thing, the fact that there is no set and no costumes and the actors walk around with cue scripts leaves a constant impression that one is watching an early rehearsal rather than a prepared performance. The scripts also add an uncomfortable anticipation that someone is going to forget their lines (which occurred a couple of times during the performance); and, for those who were a little less confident on stage, the shaking of the script in their hands betrayed their nervousness.

In addition, Shakespearian plays, with all their characters and locations, and often cases of mistaken identities, are hard enough to follow. Without benefit of a set and costumes, the Studio 58 performance made that even more of a challenge. Several of the lead roles are easy to mix up and, with the cast members simply getting out of their chairs to join or leave the scenes, the entrances and exits were oddly abrupt and unexplained.

Finally, something has to be said for the peculiar accents that were adopted by several of the characters. Some, like Evelyn Chew's portrayal of Old Gobbo and Susan Goodin as the prince of Aragon, were strange and funny enough to be used as comic relief. But others, such as Gui Fontanezzi as the prince of Morocco, with an odd combination of a Spanish and East Indian accent, were just strange and confusing.

Despite the production's rough edges, however, if you accept that you're going to see a rehearsal rather than a fine-tuned play, there's lots of entertainment to be had from the evening. There's enough lightheartedness and ease of dealing with little miscues that the audience just laughs along with the actors at their foibles. And having the pleasure of seeing Holland perform Shylock so expertly makes it all worth it.

The Merchant of Venice runs at Studio 50, 100 West 49th Ave., until Nov. 30. Call 604-684-2787 or visit www.ticketstonight.ca for ticket information.

Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and illustrator living in Vancouver. Her work can be seen at www.orchiddesigns.net.

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