Merchant of Venice, K1v

For my edits, I wanted to put myself in the shoes of a director preparing a script for actors. As a Shakespearean actor, I read Shakespeare's plays with a performer's eye, so visualizing the action on stage is usually my first step when I get lost in the sea of Olde English. My edits on this page reflect the format of a typical performance version of the Bard's plays, along with elements you'd find in a modern play script. The Merchant of Venice, like many of Shakespeare's plays, involves many characters who frequently disguise themselves for comedic or plot purposes, which makes this last scene a confusing mix of character and plot reveals to "end" the play's story. My edits to the page appeal to theatre actors and help them visualize the scene for the stage as well as understand the relevant dramaturgical information to properly situate themselves in the world. My goal is that, with the combination of the original text and my chosen additions, actors unfamiliar with Shakespearean language can find a familiar way into the story and begin to build their relationship with Shakespeare's words.

The major additions I made are in the stage directions and dramaturgical footnotes. As an actor, stage directions/blocking are one of the first things I write in my script, especially if it is central to the plot, like with the letter about Antonio's ships' safe return. The added stage directions help readers orient themselves in the metaphorical space and give necessary context to connected lines. I also chose to add information indicating who the character is speaking to, which is essential to know for an actor, especially between Gratiano's and Bassanio's exclamations following Portia's speech. Next are my added footnotes, which cover the dramaturgical information necessary for an actor to understand and properly portray the world of this play. My chosen footnotes range from the meanings of certain unfamiliar phrases and words from Shakespeare's time to geographical information about the area surrounding Venice. This dramaturgical information plays a major role in an actor's ability to make the world of the play 'real' for both themselves and the audience and is truly the backbone of any successful production.

Shakespeare's plays were originally meant for the stage and performance, and while they have evolved to become written works that we study in classes and beyond, my edits aim to bridge the gap between the two mediums, bringing a richer perspective to the Bard's play.

     

      PORTIA                                  (holding out the ring BASSANIO gave her)

                           (cont.) for by this ring the Doctor¹lay with me.

 

NERISSA                                   (holding out the ring GRATIANO gave her)

                           And pardon me my gentle Gratiano,

                           for that same scrubbèd boy, the Doctor’s Clerk,

                           in lieu of this, last night did lie with me.

 

GRATIANO     Why this is like the mending of highways

                           in Summer where the ways are fair enough? ²

                           What, are we cuckolds³ ere we have deserved it.

 

      PORTIA      Speak not so grossly, You are all amazed;

                                                                           (holding out a letter)

                           Here is a letter, read it at your leisure,

                           It comes from Padua⁴, from Bellario,

                           there you shall find that Portia was the Doctor,

                           Nerissa there her Clerk. Lorenzo here

                           shall witness I set forth as soon as you,

                           and even but now returned: I have not yet

                           entered my house. Antonio, you are welcome,

                           and I have better news in store for you

                           than you expect: unseal this letter soon,

                                                                           (holding out another  letter)

                           there you shall find three of your Argosies⁵

                           are richly come to harbor suddenly.

                           You shall not know by what strange accident

                           I chancèd on this letter.

 

ANTONIO    I am dumb?

 

BASSANIO    [to PORTIA] Were you the Doctor, and I knew you not?

 

GRATIANO    [to NERISSA] Were you the Clerk that is to make me cuckold?

 

NERISSA     Ay but the Clerk that never means to do it,

                           unless he live until he be a man.

 

BASSANIO    [to PORTIA] Sweet Doctor, you shall be my bedfellow,

                           when I am absent then lie with my wife.

 

   ANTONIO    [to PORTIA] Sweet lady, you have given me life and living;

                           for here I read for certain that my ships

                           are safely come to Road.⁶

 

      PORTIA      [to LORENZO] How now, Lorenzo?

                           my Clerk hath some good comforts too for you.

 

    NERISSA     Ay, and I’ll give them him without a fee.

                                                             (holding out a document)

                           There do I give to you and Jessica,

                           from the rich Jew, a special deed of gift

                           after his death, of all he dies possessed of.

LORENZO >

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