Season 4, Episode 2
This illuminated lecture brings together work from Dr. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, Visiting Scholar at Portland State University and scholar-in-residence at the Portland Shakespeare Project, with readings of excerpts from Shakespeare's Merchant and other related materials. Dr. Pollack-Pelzner takes up the question: “Why perform The Merchant of Venice?" and discusses its production history, scholarship related to the work, and his own personal relationship to the play.
This episode is presented in collaboration with the Shakespeare's First Folio: 1623-2023 Festival at Portland State University and was recorded live as part of the festival on October 26, 2023 during theatre dybbuk's residency in Portland, Oregon.
This is the second in a three episode series connected to concepts that intersect with theatre dybbuk's most recent theatrical work, The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), or In Sooth I Know Not Why I Am So Sad. That production combines text from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice with Elizabethan history and news from 2020 to the present. In doing so, it seeks to illuminate how, during times of upheaval, some people may place blame for their anxieties on an “other.”
This episode is supported in part by a grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Read the transcript for "The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare in Performance."
THE TEAM
Hosted by Aaron Henne
Scholarship and lecture by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, PhD
Edited by Gregory Scharpen
Story editing for the podcast by Julie A. Lockhart with Aaron Henne
Featuring the voices of Joe Jordan, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, Julie A. Lockhart, Diana Tanaka, and Inger Tudor, with musical support by Andrew Anderson
Theme music composed by Michael Skloff and produced by Sam K.S.
Transcription by Dylan Southard
"The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare in Performance" Learning Resources
Learn more about:
The Merchant of Venice as published by the Folger Shakespeare Library
Referenced in the episode:
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
The Merchant of Venice title page
The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe
The Merchant of Venice starring Laurence Olivier
Oregon Shakespeare Festival history
OPB's "Think Out Loud" with Dave Miller
Related episodes on The Dybbukast:
Watch with captions on YouTube:
ABOUT OUR EPISODE PARTNER
Shakespeare’s First Folio: 1623–2023 is a public humanities project in Portland, Oregon, that celebrates the 400th anniversary of the earliest collection of Shakespeare’s plays. From September 2023 to May 2024, the project features a gallery exhibition, a speaker series, a film festival, and performances of Shakespearean drama, opera, and music.