[ENGLISH]

 

The Jewish moneylender Shylock loans 3,000 ducats to Antonio, a Christian merchant. The loan contract sweeps the two men and everyone in their worlds into chaos as prejudices and the desire for revenge play out when Shylock demands the “pound of flesh”. The insightful Portia boldly intervenes to save Antonio, with unforeseen consequences for all.

 

The Merchant of Venice, one of the most popularly staged Shakespearean plays, is a tragicomedy that takes the audience on an emotional rollercoaster ride. With its strong exploration of race, religion, the law, justice, friendship, love, gender and marital fidelity, this play continues to attract controversy and debate even in modern stagings.

 

Rather than present a play with a neat division between the “good” and “bad” guys, this production depicts human characters who are sometimes good, sometimes bad; sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Sometimes plain foolish.

 

 

[中文]

 

商人安東尼奧 (Antonio) 為了幫助好友巴薩尼奧 (Bassanio) 娶得美麗少女波西亞，向仇家猶太放貸人夏洛克 (Shylock) 借了 3,000 金幣，卻因商船發生事故無法如期償還。在新仇舊恨下，夏洛克堅持依照借據要安東尼奧割下一磅肉來還債，這讓所有人陷入一片混亂。《威尼斯商人》是最常被搬上舞台的著名莎士比亞戲劇之一，這一個感染力超強的喜悲劇讓觀眾的情緒如過山車一般跌宕起伏，其中探索的種族、宗教、法律、公義、友情、愛情、婚姻與性別等課題，直至今日依然可以引發人們的議論。與其將人性整齊規劃成“好人”與“壞人”二元論，這個製作團隊更傾向將人的性格描繪成有時好、有時壞；有時對、有時錯：或有時只是純粹愚蠢而已。

 

本演出擷取著名莎劇《威尼斯商人》經典片段與對白，並解析其中文本。觀眾可以在問答環節參與討論。