The Merchant of Venice
The Punjabi production of The Merchant of Venice was directed by Vijeta Saini, a graduate student at Northeastern University, in collaboration with B.A.M. Khalsa College, Garhshankar and its student run theatre group, The Struggler Theatre Group. The first performance of the production was staged on September 2, 2019.
The staging of the play came into being and was driven by the question, “How do people see Shakespeare in Punjab?”. The director, intrigued by the wide-spread presence of Shakespeare in Punjab, aims to explore what the audience finds eccentric, fascinating or relevant in the play with respect to their culture, and how does it affect their reading of the play. To study these aspects of intercultural spectatorship, a survey was conducted after each of the four performances of the play, and interviews were organized with cast members and willing spectators.
The play was translated by Mz. Pardeep Kaur, a graduate student, in Punjabi. She introduced some colloquial Punjabi phrases in the script to compensate for the jettisoned iambic pentameter. She worked rigorously to make the play accessible for both its urban and rural audiences, and the team is thankful for it.
Since the play was staged on a micro-budget, primarily self-funded, and within a course of ten days, the director decided to stage it in the Nukkad Natak format. It helped her to do away with particularities of a traditional set and use the characters to construct a quasi-stage for the duration of the play. The stage was divided into Belmont and Venice by physically placing the characters in a way that they would stand parallel to their counterpart on the other side of stage (Fig. 1). For instance, Shylock and Portia were positioned at the end of the semi-circle to physically represent their outsider-ness on the stage, and Lorenzo and Morocco both of whom are potential suitor stood parallel to each other. Each scene was followed by all the characters turning to their left and stomping their feet on ground to create a tap sound. This was done to achieve a marching effect and to illustrate the movement of characters from Venice to Belmont, except Shylock who was made to turn right to show his gradual movement outside the circle of the play.
(L to R= Shylock, Jessica, Lorenzo, Salarino, Antonio, Duke, Bassanio, Gratiano, Prince of Morocco, Nerissa and Portia)
Fig. 1
The production tried to retain the plot of Shakespeare’s play, but had its characters dress in Punjabi attire to break the forth wall in order to force the audience to think what are they watching and where. The play was heavily governed by the politic of vision and place in trying to address the questions it sought answers to.
Script in Punjabi
Script in English (coming soon!)
Director: Vijeta Saini
Script Translated by: Mz. Pardeep Kaur
Cast
Antonio: Rajan Cheema
Bassanio: Baljinder Singh
Portia: Lovepreet Kaur
Nerissa: Ekta
Shylock: Ritu Raj Sharma
Prince of Morocco: Kanwar Jai Singh
Jessica: Harmandeep Kaur
Lorenzo: Bagga Singh
Salarino: Kulwinder Singh
Gratiano: Happy
Duke: Sunil Rana
Sound: Prof. Gurpreet Singh Kalsi and Priya Kaushal.
Videography and Photography: Harish Kalyan and Honey Studio, Garhshankar, Punjab.
Venue: B.A.M. Khalsa College, Garhshankar, Punjab.
Contact Information
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Struggler-Theatre-Group-2097611747192374/?ti=as
Collaborating College’s Website: https://www.bamkhalsacollege.com
Director’s email: vijetasaini24@gmail.com
Special thanks to Prof. Kanwar Kulwant Singh, Prof. Harpreet Kaur and Prof. Gurpreet Singh for their help throughout this project, and Prof. Erika Boeckeler and Prof. Vanila Khanna for their moral support.
Please feel free to email the director with any questions you have. She’ll be happy to answer.
Photo Gallery
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- Nukkad Natak Stage Setup
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- Bassanio revealing his love for Portia to Antonio
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- Portia expressing her inability to act against her father’s will to Nerissa
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- Bassanio approaches Shylock to seek 3000 ducats.
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- “You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold.”(1.3.127-129)
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- “I am as like to call thee so again, To spet on thee again, to spurn thee, too.”(1.3.140-141)
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- Portia enumerating the three conditions which her suitors must comply with to Prince of Morocco
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- Shylock telling Jessica that he has been invited over for dinner
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- Audience is introduced to Lorenzo and Jessica together for the first time on stage.
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- Jessica elopes with Lorenzo.
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- Prince of Morocco reading the instruction written over the gold casket.
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- Antonio, Gratiano and Salerio approaching Shylock after Jessica’s elopement.
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- Shylock reciting his famous “Hath not a Jew hands!” dialogue while the other characters mockingly ape him.
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- Shylock after the speech.
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- Bassanio inspecting the caskets.
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- Bassanio upon finding Portia’s image.
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- Portia giving her ring to Bassanio.
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- Salerio delivers Antonio’s letter to Bassanio.
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- Nerissa approaches the Duke with the letter from Portia (Balthazar).
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- Shylock inspecting how sharp his knife is.
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- Portia addressing Shylock.
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- Shylock with the balance.
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- Shylock proceeds to take the pound of flesh.
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- Shylock tracing his knife on Antonio’s body to see where he should cut the flesh from.
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- Shylock moves his hand back passionately as he is about to take the flesh.
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- Shylock’s jerks back as Portia tells him to tarry.
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- Portia denying Shylock 3000 ducats which Bassanio owes him.
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- Antonio during his “So please my lord the/ Duke and all the court/To quit the fine…and his daughter” (4.1.396-406).
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- Gratiano comes forth to exercise the ruling passed by the court.
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- Portia refusing to take money from Antonio and Bassanio.
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- Portia welcomes Bassanio and Antonio upon their arrival from Venice.
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- Portia questioning Bassanio about the missing ring.
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- Portia giving ring to Antonio.
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- Antonio reading the news about his ships.
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- The play ends as Bassanio and Portia face the audience and Antonio reads the letter.
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- Characters after the performance.
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- Duke of Venice
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- Bassanio
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- Antonio
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- Shylock
