The Merchant of Venice

I was fortunate to get to go see this on it's opening night in Stratford.  I read this play in high school but had never seen it performed.  I remembered the general storyline, but what I hadn't recalled was just how anti-Semitic it is.  I am not a person who is easily offended, but man oh man… First I want to say the the performances were fantastic - the play, in parts, is hysterical.  A solid cast all around.  So now that that's out of the way I have to say - I am not a fan of this play - and that's not a criticism on the production.  For the life of me, I cannot understand why this play is still performed.  I understand the mentality of "we remember so that we never forget the terrible things".  I don't know how much I buy that idea.  This production was set in the 1930's with the war looming, which makes sense since the Jewish popular was not in favour then.  Here we have a story with a bunch of lovers trying to hook up - these are supposed to be our heroes - but they torture a poor money lender, Shylock The Jew, mostly just because he charges interest on his loans.  God forbid he makes money at his job.  He's spat upon, name called, beaten, his daughter is taken from him, his money is taken, his land - and also his religion, all because he's just doing this job.  He's the villain.  What the fuck.  And this production ends with (SPOILER ALERT)….

…

… A holocaust siren.  That's right, because our "heroes" have taken everything Shylock holds dear, including being a Jew, he's now spared from the holocaust.  WTF.  

If you're a fan of this play please explain to me why - but if you are, then this production is likely worth your time and money.  If you're new to Shakespeare maybe give one of the comedies a go :)

1800 - Caesar Must Die

Another film I caught at the Santa Barbara Film Festival was this unique adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.  The backdrop is this - a high-security is putting on a production of Julius Caesar with it's inmates acting as the actors.  Through the course of the film we watch them rehearse, all leading up to the performance, and through all of that we get the actual play alongside the commentary of the prisoners as they find ways to relate to the material. 
It's a pretty unique idea, right?  Sadly it was too much in the middle for me.  I would have preferred if it was just Julius Caesar set in a men's prison, or if it was more about the prisoners putting on the play, but with some more personal b-story.  It met the ideas in the middle and I think, suffered for it.  I believe this film has actually been around for a few years at this point, and not sure how else one could see it.  If you're a big Shakespear nerd then you'll probably want to check this out just because.  Not sure I can highly recommend it to anyone outside of that circle.