THEATER REVIEW: ‘THE MERCHANT OF VENICE’ : Miscast System : The roles weren’t traditional, but troupe comes up with entertaining Shakespeare in the park.

There’s a current hoo-ha on Broadway over whether a Caucasian actor should be allowed to play a Eurasian in the hit London musical “Miss Saigon.”

Actors’ Equity, the union that’s objecting to the casting, had better stay away from “The Merchant of Venice,” at Libbey Bowl in Ojai through this weekend.

Glenn Emmanuel and Julie Talbott, who play Shylock and his daughter, may or may not be Jewish. But a woman, Jaye Hersh, plays the male clown, Launcelot Gobbo; Rodman Casselberry portrays the Prince of Morocco in blackface; and it’s unlikely that other featured cast members, including Virginia Streat, Cecil Sutton, Edward T. Buckle, Mary Wolk . . . you get the idea . . . are of Italian descent.

Shakespeare, the stage and Ojai are all likely to survive this casting, which Actors’ Equity would evidently consider a travesty.

Others might find the show to be a reasonably entertaining way to spend a couple of hours under the stars, in an ambience of lush foliage, with little to distract your attention from the stage--little, that is, save for crickets, occasional motorcycles, children (in the park and in the audience) and a church bell that tolls the hour.

The distractions are minor, though, and the show’s a lot of fun.

Evidently, the producers are less worried about incurring the wrath of Actors’ Equity than of people who find Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, to be an offensive stereotype. Those who do take offense, though, are people who haven’t seen the play--or at least who haven’t paid too much attention to it: It’s quite clear that Shylock’s hostility toward the Christian characters in the play is in reaction to the way they’ve treated him.

Shylock’s daughter is romanced by a presumably Catholic Italian, and she’s entirely sympathetic.

The whole Shylock encounter (in which he demands a pound of flesh as payment for a loan Antonio can’t repay) is the trigger for the play’s more important theme, in which a woman, Portia, must disguise herself as a man to serve as the defense attorney for her thick-witted fiance.

There’s also a silly subplot concerning the suitor whom Portia will marry; whichever of the three chooses the container that holds her portrait wins her hand. Either Venice wasn’t particularly civilized in those days, or Shakespeare was adapting an already elderly fairy tale.

In any event, it’s this subplot, and two ill-fated suitors--the Prince of Morocco, whose shoulder-length hair and walrus mustache make him resemble singer David Crosby, and the Prince of Aragon (David Douglas), who speaks with an accent somewhere between Pepe Le Pew and the Swedish Chef--that provide much of the show’s low comedy.

As has been true of most of this Summer’s spate of Ventura County Shakespeare, accents vary from stage English to contemporary American. Jaye Hersh, who plays clown Launcelot Gobbo, speaks like a ‘90s woman, yet she seems far more comfortable with the Shakespearean dialogue than many of the other actors, who tend to rush through their lines.

Veteran local actress Streat, who plays Portia, is regal and witty, if (to be less than chivalrous) a bit beyond the age when Venetian women were then betrothed. Ronald Rezak, late of the Plaza Players’ “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” plays her main suitor, Bassanio, with great enthusiasm. As Gobbo’s blind father, David Farley has a good comic scene with his son.

There are no sets to speak of, just some bushes, some rocks and a few pieces of furniture. The costumes, by contrast, are quite elaborate--credit K&L; Design, which also works with the Illusions Theatre Company of Ojai.

Director Paul Backer keeps things moving smoothly enough, though the inconsistency of tone among the various individual performances is somewhat jarring.

“The Merchant of Venice” is the Royal Shakespeare Revels’ eighth annual show.

* WHERE AND WHEN: “The Merchant of Venice” can be seen this Friday through Sunday nights at 7:30 at Libbey Bowl in Libbey Park, on Ojai Avenue in Ojai. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors, and free for children under 13. Call 646-2917 for further information and reservations.