In Merchant, F. Murray Abraham's Shylock contains an almost rarefied dignity that melts into exalted agony. It's a deft and beautiful performance that's scantily supported by the rest of the ensemble, and by Darko Tresnjak's Euro-chic staging. John Lee Beatty's stark set places a trinity of MacBook computers on pedestals. Sound designer Jane Shaw has them blipping and beeping the play into the 21st century.
Abraham's Shylock may be more tender than Al Pacino's recent Broadway incarnation, directed by Daniel Sullivan, but this production pales by comparison. The ethnic slurs are here like barbs, punched out as though to declaim, "You see, this is a play about bigotry."
PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS
Civilization and Carnage: Harden, Davis, Daniels and Gandolfini
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Sullivan's staging muted all of that, so that the play floated down a stream of decorum — which is precisely what made the trial of Antonio, when Venice's bigotry manifested itself full-force, so harrowing to watch. Moreover, in Sullivan's version, there was never a hitch in the clarity of the story. Here the vagaries of the settings, combined with some monochromatic supporting performances, lead to a tumble of words and passions that takes a while to congeal.
Kate MacCluggage turns Portia into a regal beauty who can transmit a freight load of subtext in a single glance. This disintegrates when she doubles as a local, revered judge — and though that's a crucial scene, at least it's short. Her waiting woman (Christen Simon Marabate) also has an effervescence that helps lift this production's heavy load.
Still, as in God of Carnage, the cautionary tale emerges: Beware of a child with a stick and a grudge.
GOD OF CARNAGE | By Yasmina Reza | Presented by Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., dwntwn. | Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m., Sat., 2 & 8 p.m., Sun., 1 & 6:30 p.m. | Through May 29 | (213) 628-2772
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE | By William Shakespeare | Directed by Darko Tresnjak | Presented by Theatre for a New Audience at the Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica | Wed. & Sat.-Sun., 2 p.m., Thurs.-Sat., 7:30 p.m. | Through April 24 | (310) 434-3414
