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| Nerissa (left, performed by Katlin Schlegel) speaks with Portia (right, performed by Carlyn Campbell) during a rehearsal of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" at City Park. (Photos: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune) |
The play is the repository of some of Shakespeare's most soaring rhetoric, and enduring turns of phrase. These buttress a strong theme that continues to resonate, dramatized by strong characters, including one of the Bard's best women, Portia.
Yet "The Merchant of Venice" bears the stain of a nasty strain of anti-Semitism.
Lionface Productions stages the show, directed by Michael Portteus, unapologetically this weekend, opening tonight at 7 p.m. and continuing with shows Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. on the outdoor stage of Needle Hall in Bowling Green City Park.