February 28

Critiques February 28, 2011 READ THE NEW SCRIPT, and if you can find more to cut, let me know. We put some of Lorenzo and Jessica’s scene back in.
Antonio Spit needs to be horizontal. Start In sooth as you are crossing to table. Move it if it is not working for you.
Salerio Great job in first scene. Louder on the cross. “Merchant” at the end of your sentence needs to be stressed.
Gratiano Great entrance, but I could not understand you. The lines are important, but so is the energy. Your last line is We will talk and laugh later, so laugh after it.
Who knows “credit can” needs to be louder
Casket people Come in at the same time with the person closer to right stage coming in first. The last casket person could not be seen.
Ty Move the table to the right before the dance scene.
Dancers Move DSL – way left or we might try usc in slow motion.
Bassanio Remember you are a Casanova
Thanks for thinking and moving the tables.
Antonio, Bassanio & Shylock scene Antonio and Bassanio – keep your heads up.
8 minutes Seal the bond We were at 10.
Moroccan MEN and Portia and Nerissa We need levels. Connor, come around the bench and kneel looking up. There were 8 people on stage standing until Mark kneeled.
This is in both Moroccan scenes.
Launcelot & Bassanio, Men and Hannah We need men at the table. Hannah, you should always be present unless you are in another scene.
Launcelot, be louder and vary your voice. Use inflection.
Sidelights Sidelights need to fade in and out. Greg will work on placement tonight.
Jessica and Lorenzo We will work on your scene. I love you both in the courtroom scene. You are extremely believable. Be sure that you can see the judge.
Arragon Keep your head up, especially in Arragon scene. LAUGH.
16 minutes
EVERYONE Who chooses me. We were at 20. The play is DRAGGING. One way to solve this is to step on lines. No pauses between lines.
Carson and Connor Move the caskets before people move in the scene. I know it is a thankless job, but Zack and Chavez did it their freshmen year.
Portia/Bassanio scene
Gratiano, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, Salerio, Salarino This scene puts me to sleep. Bassanio, you are the suave man – a ladies man. However, you need to appear extremely nervous because making the wrong choice means that you will be a monk for the rest of your life. Gratiano, you are the clown. Lorenzo, you are concerned about how they will treat Jessica. Jessica, you are almost afraid. These are the same guys who have chased you down the street. Salerio and Salarino are both extremely concerned about Antonio. Everyone is standing. Gratiano and Salarino are the only ones in this scene with facial expressions. We need LEVELS. You cannot move a café chair out or it will still be on stage in the jail scene.
Salerio Lines.
Duke You might look over your character sketch again. You are Antonio’s buddy. You are an aristocrat. You would not hit Shylock. You are beyond that. However, you want everyone to know that you are in charge. You need more inflection in your voice. We also need for you to cheat more toward the audience. Look at your lines and hit boldfaced words. Love the accent.
25 minutes
Everyone Impeach the justice of the state. You were at 30.
EVERYONE Look at the script. I have eliminated all cut lines. Be familiar with it or we are spinning our wheels.
Antonio Beseech the court This should be directed toward the Duke
Everyone Move the trial scene out more. Adjust your position just as you would in real life. If you were at a concert and you could not see something that was extremely important in the front, you would crane your heads to see. You might stand up.
Portia The “mercy “ speech should be directed at Shylock. YOU HAVE TO LEARN YOUR LINES.
EVERYONE YOU CANNOT PROMPT ANYONE ON STAGE. THIS IS A DISQUALIFICATiON.
EVERYONE Because of the way I had blocked the trial scene, Hayden was blocked. In character, he moved to left stage so we could see what Salarino was thinking – he was frustrated. Everyone needs to be like him. Act like ordinary people. The world has not been created yet.
Antonio & jailers Sunday, we said we would leave Mark in the chair. I looked up last night and he had the mop handle around his arms.
Antonio, jailers, & Shylock Move more down stage. This means someone needs to move the chair down more. Shylock may need to get on his knees to cut Mark’s chest.
Portia Watch pacing in the last minutes of the trial scene. It is a little too much.
Jessica Go down toward your father. See info below. If he spills a drop of human blood, according to Jewish law, he is damned forever. A part of you still loves him.
EVERYONE Michelle and the crew CANNOT keep up with your props. At the beginning of this, we had 3 ropes. Now we have one. I have been spending my money to fund this because some people cannot keep up with their props/costumes,etc. If we lose any of the rental costumes, we have to pay double the rental. We rented from Houston for 2300. I have another 3-400 rented from the costume shop. Take responsibility for your things.
Judaism puts a supreme value on the protection of human life, for the human being is understood as having been created in the image of God ("let us create humanity in our image"). We are expected to stop crimes, rescue people from natural disasters, and intervene in life-threatening circumstances. Virtually any action is permissible -- except for murder of innocents, idolatry and adultery/incest -- to save a human being from death. Life is priceless, and the life of one person is considered no less valuable than the life of another -- regardless of their prognosis for survival. Indeed we are commanded to take action to prevent the death of others:
The reason Adam was created alone in the world is to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever keeps alive a single soul, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had preserved the entire world. Babylonian Talmud
Neither shall you stand idly by the blood of your neighbor. Leviticus 19:16
By this prohibition [Leviticus 19:16] we are forbidden to neglect to save a life of a person whom we see in danger of death and destruction and whom it is in our power to save: as for instance if a person is drowning, and we are good swimmers and can save him; or if a heathen is trying to kill someone, and we are in a position to thwart his intention...
Read the analysis about the characters in Merchant of venice. This is the previous post.