A perfect night for Bard perfection

It was a perfect night for Shakespeare in the Park last Friday, and the al fresco theatre at Bason Botanical Reserve was the ideal venue for the bard's black comedy, The Merchant of Venice.

Ticket holders arrived with sand chairs, bean bags, blankets and all manner of comforts on which to sit for the evening, and while enjoying the play many picnicked under a cloudless sky.

Some took up the offer of hampers, others brought their own.

And the performance? Magnificent.

Director Karen Craig had chosen actors well-equipped to handle the verbiage of such a play, in which the dialogue needed a cast who understood each line and delivered it as naturally as the original players would have. No easy task, but well-effected.

In such a play as Merchant, the pivotal roles had to go to accomplished actors, around which lesser roles revolved, but many taking their inspiration from those playing centre stage.

Thus Shylock, Antonio, Portia, Bassanio and Nerissa had to be good, and they were.

Paul Lyons, Phil Hudson, Jessica Alder, Christopher McLaughlin and Isabelle McKenzie proved able, holding our attention with every line, every speech, every measured movement.

Around them the rest of the cast showed they belonged on that grassy stage, whether delivering lines or not.

Some were well-experienced, others not, but each made their role essential to the narrative of the play.

Even those changing scenery and rearranging props gave a performance — and got some laughs.

I wonder how William Shakespeare would have reacted to see some of his male roles acted by women, considering in his day, there was no room on stage for female players at all!

Karen tampered with the script a little, adding topical and local references and providing extra humour, and to have a character called the Prince of Sydney (Patrick McKenna) enter with green and gold face stripes and a hat with corks hanging off it was brilliant! To have him play the role straight was even more so!

The story was told and the audience was enthralled.

To name each cast member and give a detailed critique would be tedious, so please accept my congratulations, all of you.

To the team who worked behind the scenes to provide costumes, rehearsal assistance, sets, sound, light, props, music and dance, and to all who supported the venture financially and with voluntary assistance, we thank you.

We had a great night and we hope you did too.

Paul Brooks
Whanganui Midweek 4/3/20