The Merchant of Venice

(Paperback)

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Description

Boika Sokolova and Kirilka Stavreva's second edition of the stage history of The Merchant of Venice interweaves into the chronology of James Bulman's first edition richly contextualised chapters on Max Reinhardt, Peter Zadek, and the first production of the play in Mandatory Palestine, directed by Leopold Jessner. While the focus of the book is on post-1990s productions across Europe and the USA, and on film, the Segue provides a broad survey of the interpretative shifts in the play's performance from the 1930s to the second decade of the twenty-first century. Individual chapters explore productions by Peter Zadek, Trevor Nunn, Robert Sturua, Edward Hall, Rupert Goold, Daniel Sullivan, and Karin Coonrod. An extensive film section including silent film offers close analysis of Don Selwyn's Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weniti and Michael Radford's adaptation. Accessible and engaging, the book will interest students, academics, and general readers.

Reviews

James Bulmans 1991 investigation of The Merchant of Venice in performance was outstanding. Now Boika Sokolova and Kirilka Stavreva have added a whole new range of brilliant and exhilarating studies, from Max Reinhardt in 1906 to the Venetian Ghetto in 2016, from 1936 Palestine to post-war Germany, to 21st century stage and screen, adding up to a transformative exploration of this endlessly troubling play.
Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame

Author Bio

Boika Sokolova is Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame (USA) in England

Kirilka Stavreva is Professor of English at Cornell College, USA