Merchant of Venice
Left to Right:
Christopher Staines, Gregory Cox, Isabel Pollen, Louise Yates and Tim Hardy
Synopsis
In Venice Bassanio needs a loan of 3,000 ducats so that he can properly woo Portia, a wealthy heiress who lives at Belmont. To get the necessary funds, Bassanio entreats his friend Antonio, a merchant. Antonio's money, unfortunately, is invested in merchant ships that are presently at sea; however, to help Bassanio, Antonio arranges for a short-term loan of the money from Shylock, a Jewish money-lender. Shylock has a deep-seated hatred for Antonio because of the insulting treatment that Antonio has shown him in the past. When pressed, Shylock strikes a bargain: the 3,000 ducats must be repaid in three months, or Shylock will exact a pound of flesh from Antonio. The merchant agrees to this, confident in the return of his ships before the appointed date of repayment.
At Belmont, Portia is beset by suitors. Due to her father's will, all suitors must choose from among three caskets made of gold, silver and lead—one of which contains a portrait of her. If a man chooses the right one, he may marry Portia; however, if he chooses wrong, he must vow never to marry or even court another woman. Princes of Morocco and Arragon fail this test and are turned away. As Bassanio prepares to travel to Belmont for the test, his friend Lorenzo elopes with Jessica, Shylock's daughter (who takes some of Shylock's money and jewels with her). Bassanio chooses the lead casket, which is the correct one, and looks forward to marrying Portia at once.
In contrast to this happiness, Antonio finds himself in trouble. Two of his ships have been wrecked, and Antonio's creditors—including the vengeance-minded Shylock—are grumbling about repayment. Word comes to Bassanio about Antonio's predicament, and he hastens back to Venice, leaving Portia behind. Portia, however, travels after him with her maid, Nerissa; they disguise themselves as a lawyer and clerk. When Bassanio arrives, the loan is in default and Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh. Even when Bassanio (backed now by Portia's inheritance) offers many times the amount in repayment, Shylock is intent on revenge. The duke, who sits in judgment, cannot intervene. Portia enters in her guise as a lawyer to defend Antonio. Through a technicality, Portia declares that Shylock may have his pound of flesh so long as he draws no blood (since there was no mention of this in the original agreement). And, since it is obvious that to cut a pound of flesh would take Antonio's life, Shylock, an alien in the city, has conspired to murder a Venetian citizen; he has forfeited his wealth as well as his loan. Half is to go to the city, and half is to go to Antonio. Antonio gives back his half of the penalty on the condition that Shylock bequeath it to his disinherited daughter, Jessica, and converts to Christianity. Back at Belmont, news arrives that Antonio's remaining ships are returned to port and his wealth is restored.
Actor Biographies
Gregory Cox trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School after
graduating from Manchester University. He began his career at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, appearing in
ten productions including T.S. Eliot's The Confidential Clerk and The Merchant of Venice as
the Prince of Aragon. He then joined the cast of Oliver! in the West End to play Mr. Sowerberry.
He was Harris in Little Lies with John Mills (Wyndhams Theatre and Toronto). He has toured the Far East
with Derek Nimmo's company playing Dr. Gibbs in Only When I Laugh and the UK with the National Theatre as
Captain Brice in Stoppard's Arcadia.
His other theatre work includes Don Juan (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), Dr. Alan Campbell in The Picture Of Dorian Gray (Windsor and UK tour, directed by Elijah Moshinsky), Charley in Death Of A Salesman (Frankfurt English Theatre), The Dybbuk (BAC), Dr. Grubshaw in Commanding Voices (New End), Sir Toby in Twelfth Night (Wimbledon), Defarge in Tale Of Two Cities (Sheffield Crucible), Mark in Taking Steps (Vienna), Brassett in Charley's Aunt (Cannizaro Park), Sir Lucius in The Rivals (Holland Park), Claudius in Hamlet (Rose Theatre), Hotspur in Henry IV Part One (St. Georges, London), Edmund in King Lear (Colchester), Canutus in Edmund Ironside (Bridge Lane), and Stepan Verhovensky in Dostoyevsky's The Devils (Union Theatre, London).
His television and film work includes Marty in Doctors (BBC), Trial And Retribution (ITV), Greg in Killer Net (Channel Four), Dr. Garrett in Picking Up The Pieces (ITV), Jimmy in In Suspicious Circumstances, Maigret with Michael Gambon (Granada), Get Up Stand Up (Channel Four), Grace And Favour (BBC), Keeping Up Appearances (BBC), Dutton in Brookside (Channel Four), Mr. Wiggis in Bad Boyes (BBC), Robin of Sherwood (HTV), Grange Hill (BBC), and DI Rawlings in Making A Killing (Shining Light Films).
He has appeared at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in The Poetry of War with Dame Judi Dench and Harriet Walter, and his play, Table For Two, was a joint prizewinner in the London Actors and Writers Playwriting Competition.
This is Cox's first tour with Actors From The London Stage.
Tim Hardy trained at RADA. His theatre work in London includes
Henry V and Marat/Sade (RSC, also Broadway and film), Henry IV and Henry V
(Prospect Theatre Co. at the Roundhouse), Mary Barnes (Royal Court), Melon (Theatre Royal,
Haymarket), Lysistrata (Sir Peter Hall Co. at The Old Vic), Mephisto (Roundhouse),
Peer Gynt (BAC), Moliere (Gate Theatre), Cavafy (King's Head), and The Shrew
(Open Space). His work in musicals includes Fiddler on the Roof (Her Majesty's), Judy (Strand
Theatre), and Parade (Edinburgh Festival).
Hardy has also performed title roles in Macbeth and The Norman Conquests (Oxford Playhouse), The Merchant of Venice and Catch 22 (Leeds Playhouse), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Newcastle Fesitval), and Rosmersholm and Tartuffe (Bristol Old Vic).
In opera, he has played bass leading roles in The Magic Flute, Figaro, Cenerentola, Don Giovani, La Traviata, all for Music Theatre London, in London, Hamburg, Vienna, and Amsterdam.
Hardy's television experience includes David Manners in Eastenders, Arthur Taylor in Oscar Wilde, Ross in Macbeth, Jesus in The Folksinger, The Doctor in The Wife of Bath, and the title role in Galileo, to be shown on BBC 2 this September. On film, he has appeared in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, The Duellists, and Nothing But The Best.
His directing credentials include Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Rebecca (Vienna English Theatre) and The Merchant of Venice and Royal Hunt of the Sun, both in America. A faculty member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hardy's work there includes being a member of the admissions panel, directing students from NYU studying Shakespeare, directing and lecturing on the 8-week summer course, directing the third-year students in their final showcase presentation, and serving as principal director of an annual course he created — RADA at The Old Vic — where the students perform more modern texts such as The Crucible and 12 Angry Men. Hardy lectures to students from Syracuse University, and recently directed them in Betrayal by Harold Pinter.
Previously, Hardy toured with Actors From The London Stage in A Winter's Tale (Fall 1989) and Romeo and Juliet (Spring 1997).
Isabel Pollen trained at RADA. Her theatre experience includes
All's Well That Ends Well (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); An Enemy of the People (Royal National
Theatre); Measure for Measure and Arcadia (Manchester Library Theatre); Action (the Young
Vic Theatre); Merchant of Venice (Royal Shakespeare Company, on national and international tours to North
Carolina, China, Kuala Lumpa, and Japan); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Arcola Theatre); Bright
(Soho Theatre); Pericles (Cardboard Citizens); Warcrime (London, Thessaloniki, and on national
tour); Claw (the Vanburgh Theatre), and, most recently, she represented RADA onboard the Queen Mary 2,
performing shows and teaching workshops.
Her television work includes North and South (BBC 1), Touching Evil (ITV), Soundproof (Blast Films for BBC2), and others. She has done numerous radio recordings for the BBC and other stations. Pollen also wrote and directed a play based on Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines in London.
Christopher Staines studied at Oxford University and then trained
at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His theatre work includes, at the National Theatre, Marlow in She Stoops to
Conquer, Hamlet (also on tour in the US), and David Hare's Amy's View (also at the Aldywch
in the West End); Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, Adam in Paradise Lost, and
Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors (Bristol Old Vic Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream
and Richard III (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Longitude (Greenwich Theatre); Three Sisters
(Chichester Festival Theatre); Gross Indecency — The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (West End); and Sam
Mendes' production of Cabaret (Donmar Warehouse).
His television and film appearances include Mrs. Dalloway, Casualty, Rosemary and Thyme, Highlander, Foyle's War, The Student Prince, This Life, The Queen's Nose, The Ruby Ring, Pride and Prejudice. On radio, he has performed in The Rose and the Ring, The Decameron, Antigone, and Dossier Ronald Akkerman. This is the second time Staines has worked with AFTLS. In 2004, he toured with A Midsummer Night's Dream, playing Oberon, Lysander, Flute, and Cobweb.
Louise Yates' theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's
Dream (Exeter); Hobson's Choice, Peter Pan, Nervous Women, Of Mice and Men,
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, My Mother Said I Never Should (Birmingham Repertory); The Red Balloon
(Manchester & Bristol); An Experiment With An Air Pump (Manchester & Hampstead); A Little Like Drowning
(Chester); Grimm Tales (Leicester); One Under (Kilburn Tricycle); A Christmas Carol and
Oliver Twist (Lyric Hammersmith); Bread and Butter (Southwark Playhouse); Mansfield Park and
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Sheffield Crucible); The Secret Rapture and Playing for Time
(Salisbury Playhouse); A Kind of Alaska and The Road to Ruin (Orange Tree Theatre Richmond).
She has also appeared on television and in films, including I'm Alan Partridge; Rik Mayall Presents; Reeves and Mortimer's Weekenders; Where There's Smoke; Wine in the Blood; Family Affairs; Brookside; Coronation Street; The Bill; London Bridge; Wing and a Prayer; Doctors; A Touch of Frost, and Patrick's Planet.