Word: gratiano
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Another keystone in the cast is Gratiano, Bassanio's friend played by David Joffe '00. He imbues the production with a delightful and slightly anachronistic bawdy energy. His effortless movements from good natured lewdness to an extreme violence of anti-Semitism are startling and disconcerting, stressing the hatred that paves the way for Shylock's implacable lust for revenge...
...reflected onto its creators as money reveals itself to be the foundation for their actions. Antonio's friendship with Bassanio is the relationship between benefactor and courtesan. Bassanio's love for Portia is linked to the fortune she will bring him, and even the marriage between Bassanio's man Gratiano and Portia's maid Nerissa (Catherine Crow HGSE '99) is contingent upon their employers' financial union. The Christians themselves embody the gross materialism they condemn in Shylock, and it taints even the "pure" love of Jessica (Shira Palmer-Sherman '02) and Lorenzo (Gregory David '99). Shakespeare's mockery of closure...