"Merchant of Venice" at PSU

Theatre in Performance:
On October 12, 2012 our theatre class took a field trip to Penn State. The first thing we did was watch "Merchant of Venice" by the actors from the London Stage. It was an absolutely fantastic production! Initially, I was feeling a little trepidatious because there was no set, and I am used to seeing elaborate sets for productions. Due to the minimal set, the actors had to pretend that they had problems. There was one particularly funny part when one actor pretended to draw a sword, by making the noise it would make.Also, there were only five actors playing numerous characters. This got really confusing throughout the play because I couldn't remember which character the was at some points. However, it was also hilarious because they would quickly switch hats or scarves and talk to an empty space, pretending that character was there. It's hard to imagine how the actors would be able to memorize all their lines (there were so many!) for their different characters and remember when they are which character. I also noticed an aspect of epic theatre when the characters sang songs to convey a message. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing experience, and I can't wait to see more plays like this!