The Merchant of Venice
National Theatre
Cast & Crew
Cast
Antonio | Anthony Nicholls |
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Balthasar | Michael Harding |
Barber | Paul Vousden |
Bassanio | Jeremy Brett |
Duke of Venice; T/O Prince of Aragon (also) | Benjamin Whitrow |
Extra | Hugh Armstrong |
Extra | Kate Coleridge |
Extra | Sean Roantree |
Gratiano | Derek Jacobi |
Jessica | Jane Lapotaire |
Launcelot Gobbo | Jim Dale |
Leonardo; T/O Tubal | Alan Dudley |
Lorenzo | Malcolm Reid |
Nerissa | Anna Carteret |
Old Gobbo | Harry Lomax |
Portia | Joan Plowright |
Prince of Aragon | Charles Kay |
Prince of Morocco | Tom Baker |
Salerio | Richard Kay |
Secretary; Extra | Michael Edgar |
Servant to Antonio; Extra | Lawrence Trimble |
Servant to Portia; U/S Portia | Gillian Barge |
Shylock | Laurence Olivier |
Singer | Laura Sarti |
Singer | Clare Walmesley |
Solanio | Michael Tudor Barnes |
Stephano | Patrick Carter |
T/O Balthasar; Extra | Tom Dickinson |
T/O Barber | Lionel Guyett |
T/O Barber | David Kincaid |
T/O Bassanio | Frank Barrie |
T/O Duke of Venice; T/O Old Gobbo | Paul Curran |
T/O Extra | Maggie Riley |
T/O Extra | Howard Southern |
T/O Extra | Norma Streader |
T/O Extra | Harry Waters |
T/O Extra | Judy Wilson |
T/O Extra; T/O Lorenzo | Tom Georgeson |
T/O Extra; T/O Nerissa | Jo Maxwell-Muller |
T/O Gratiano | Ronald Pickup |
T/O Jessica | Louise Purnell |
T/O Prince of Morocco | Stephen Greif |
T/O Servant to Antonio; Extra | David Howey |
T/O Shylock | Robert Lang |
T/O Singer | Morag Noble |
T/O Stephano | Peter Rocca |
Tubal | Lewis Jones |
Crew | |
Assistant director | Harry Lomax |
Composer | Carl Davis |
Designer | Julia Trevelyan Oman |
Director | Jonathan Miller |
Lighting designer | Robert Ornbo |
Photographer | Anthony Crickmay |
Stage Manager | John Rothenberg |
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Photographs
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Observations
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The name of the cantor who sings the kaddish after Shylock’s forced to renounce his Jewish faith is not given in the credits, but I believe it was the New London Synagogue’s cantor – a Mr Rothschild (I don’t know his first name) who was the most outstanding baritone. The synagogue he belonged to was led by the late and great Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs. It has to be said that so brilliant was Olivier’s portrayal and the entire Edwardian style of the production, that following Shylock’s failure in court, there was very little interest in anything after his suggested or metaphoric suicide (offstage) – as a result of the profundity of the kaddish sung.
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In 1970 when I was 16 years old, I flew from Canada to spend the summer with my grandparents in Southampton. While there I also took a side trip to London, where I stayed with a friend of my mother’s who had served with her in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during the war. One morning while having breakfast we saw a notice in the paper that Standing Room tickets for “The Merchant Of Venice” at the Old Vic would go on sale the next morning. Her husband Fred and I went to the Old Vic early, got tickets, and then went to the play. We saw the first act from Standing Room, then went to the bar during intermission. Upon returning, when the play started I looked down near the stage and noticed two empty seats about 10 rows from the stage, on the centre aisle. I pointed this out to Fred, and he whispered “Let’s go down and take them. Worst that can happen is we’ll get kicked out”. So we snuck down and took the seats. To our great luck––– the people never returned! We got prime cheap seats at the Old Vic to watch Laurence Olivier and the rest of the cast in this wonderful production. It was an amazing theatrical experience which I have never topped in my entire life, and I doubt that I ever will. I can still hear Olivier’s voice filling the entire theatre with his cries. What an actor he was!
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