The Merchant of Venice, Anthony Heald and Jonathan Haugen
Can I share something with you? Today I read something that really ticked me off. It was posted as a high school girl's status update.
Corinthians 6:14~Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
Give me a friggin' break.I am so tired of some Christians' attitudes that they are better than anyone who is not a Christian. (Not to mention those who think they are better Christians than other Christians.) This particular phrasing the young woman employed has been used in many other places; a google search yielded over 600 hits.
We recently spent a glorious week down in Ashland (insert genuflection here) at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, seeing plays and attending discussions with actors and dramaturgs. I'll share more about the details in future posts, but I want to mention something specific here: my family's response to The Merchant of Venice. It was a brilliant production of a troubling play. Spoiler alert: Shylock, a Jewish moneylender in Venice, is forced to convert to Christianity in order to retain his property. Both kids were outraged at this turn of events. And they found it totally believable, given the intolerant, holier-than-thou attitudes of so many of their Christian peers.
I read a great piece about Anthony Heald, the actor who portrays Shylock. The first Jewish actor in the 75 year history of OSF to perform the role, Heald wrestled with many issues. I love his analysis:
I'd encourage Christians to really consider these words:
"I think the biggest mistake is to present all the Christians as bigots and Shylock as noble. What that does is leave the suggestion that even noble Jews are capable of vicious acts. No -- Jewish people with psychological flaws, like Christians with psychological flaws, are capable of vicious acts."Oregon Shakespeare Festival actor Anthony Heald has found a rewarding home in Ashland, where he's become a key member of the talented company. Director Bill Rauch describes him as "a brilliant craftsperson" and a "seeker of the truth" through his art. ~caption from Marty Hughley's Oregonian article
Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means,
warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us,
do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.
If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility?
Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his
sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge.
The villainy you teach me, I will execute,
and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
(Act III, scene I)
Right on, Will.
I am sick of sanctimonious schmucks.
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