André Tchaikowsky’s lifestory is almost worthy of opera, the end necessarily tragic. So it’s perhaps not surprising that, in his hands, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice should emerge as more tragedy than comedy, withTchaikowsky painting something of himself – depressive, gay and Jewish – into the characters of both merchant Antonio, manifestly in love with Bassanio, and the money-lending Shylock.
In Keith Warner’s production – first seen at Bregenz in 2013 and now getting its UK premiere in Welsh National Opera’s Shakespeare-themed season – Antonio is not alone in his blatant anti-semitism, and casting of the African American, Lester Lynch, as Shylock gives a further racist edge. For some, this treatment will only fuel the perception of a problematic play, better avoided, yet the baiting and the venom to which Warner subjects Shylock carry a deliberately shocking contemporary resonance.
Tchaikowsky’s music presents a curious mixture of styles, primarily nervily Bergian but with Brittenesque passages too, notably in the brass writing; recorder and lute feature in cod-Renaissance music from a stage band accompanying a Marlene Dietrich singer in white top and tails. Britten’s acuity of word-setting is lacking, though, and Tchaikowsky’s tendency to use the spoken word at points of high tension diminishes rather than heightens their impact.
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