Adelaide Fringe 2011
Shylock
Guy Masterson
Genre: Storytelling
Venue: Royalty Theatre, 65, Angas Street, Adelaide
Festival: Adelaide Fringe
Low Down
Tubal is given more than his original eight lines in the Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice, as he narrates the lengthy history of his good friend Shylock. Guy Masterson gives an intimate performance guiding us through Shylock’s psyche, motivations, thinking, and reasoning as one of the most famous villainous Jews in fiction. Or is he a victim? The recitation is interspersed with footnotes about Shylock’s creator, Shakespeare; his inspiration, the Jew of Mestri in Ser Giovannai’s Il Pecorone; and the original villainous Jew, Barabbas. He re-enacts scenes from The Merchant of Venice to reiterate his argument—he gives an intense and deeply moving performance that radiates energy and zeal.
Review
Lowdown: Tubal is given more than his original eight lines in the Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice, as he narrates the lengthy history of his good friend Shylock. Guy Masterson gives an intimate performance guiding us through Shylock’s psyche, motivations, thinking, and reasoning as one of the most famous villainous Jews in fiction. Or is he a victim? The recitation is interspersed with footnotes about Shylock’s creator, Shakespeare; his inspiration, the Jew of Mestri in Ser Giovannai’s Il Pecorone; and the original villainous Jew, Barabbas. He re-enacts scenes from The Merchant of Venice to reiterate his argument—he gives an intense and deeply moving performance that radiates energy and zeal.
Review: Tubal greets the audience cheerfully and gives a comprehensive summary of The Merchant of Venice all the while lamenting the fact that he only has eight lines in the entire play—but eight very important lines, for he is the strong and silent type. But in this one-man show, Tubal is larger than life in giving his thesis on the infamous Jew and personal friend. He gives a discourse on the actors throughout time who have represented Shylock including Shakespeare’s good friend and muse, Richard Burbage, Irishman Charles Macklin, and Hitler’s favourite, Werner Krauss. Moving swiftly through guises and characters, Masterson confronts the stereotypes and thwarts the common misconceptions about Jews always coming back to Shylock and using his character to exemplify his arguments. The audience is left with a complete understanding of The Merchant of Venice and the complex nature of its antagonist.
The script is enlightening, honest and precise, if a little repetitive on the subject of the play’s namesake, and it prudently avoids lamenting the persecution of the Jews; Tubal also takes this opportunity to bemoan his eight lines strongly procrastinating his solo performance of the key scene in The Merchant of Venice. Masterson however, delivers the lines masterfully, conducting himself swiftly through the multiple personalities entertaining, moving and delighting the audience. The simple props force us to focus on Masterson the entire time—the stage is simply adorned with a chest emblazoned with The Merchant of Venice and contains Shylock’s costumes. The spindle-legged table and chair are Tubal’s only props with The Bible, a well-thumbed copy of The Merchant of Venice, and a copy of Il Pecorone. A small box on the table holds a number of badges that Jews have been forced to wear long before Hitler came into power. The five drapes in the background covered almost offensively with the word ‘Jew’ in all its forms and dialects complements the intense and passionate performance that Masterson bestows. Although the lighting serves to differentiate the various personas and characters that Masterson transforms into, it could have been used to greater effect to reiterate Tubal’s dialogue and alter the unchanged scene.
This was an astounding performance and Masterson is a one-man spectacular that is not to be missed. His energy and the exceptional script create a performance that is understated but powerfully moving. The passion and dedication behind this performance extends it and at times the repetitive script adds more measure than content, but Shylock is sure to be added to the Adelaide Fringe repertoire. Don’t wait a whole year to see it! Masterson is an outstanding display of skill and mastery of the one-man show.
