This Portia Proves to Be Worthy Focus of ‘Merchant’

In these politically correct times, Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” isn’t an easy play to mount without raising cries of racism and anti-Semitism. Yet with Anna Carli as a luminously wise Portia, this Road Theatre Company presentation at the Lankershim Arts Center is worth seeing.

Moira Moore has attired an attractive cast in gorgeously detailed costumes that quite convince the audience to forget the slightly creepy background mural belonging to the set of another play, “White People.”

Director James Clarke attempts to bypass the problems of Shylock (Greg Mullavey) and the Prince of Morocco (James Brown-Orleans) by making them repellent in different ways. Brown-Orleans plays his prince as an overly demonstrative boaster, so different in custom and ill-mannered in courtship that color and culture are immaterial. Mullavey’s Shylock isn’t a sly man--he’s a vengeful, small man of little imagination or mercy. Still, one cringes to hear the word Jew spat out with such contempt and see his forced conversion. His opponent, the generous Antonio (Lance Guest), is played with brooding solemnity instead of winning good-guy heartiness.

Yet almost all these queasy problems of today’s mind-set are forgotten when Carli’s Portia takes the stage. Together with her red-haired friend, Nerissa (Marci Hill), they are wonderfully animated and eloquent in their confidences and deception.

At first, one isn’t convinced that the seemingly bland Bassanio (Chad Tyler) is a worthy suitor. Yet when Bassanio realizes his good fortune and his face lights up with childish wonder, one believes that he is a suitable husband even if he’s not Portia’s intellectual match.

Clarke sometimes allows his actors to blast their lines, making this venue seem overly small. The boisterous, funny Michael Dempsey booms his lines. Not all the scene transitions flow well, but this comedy is really about Portia--and this Portia is well-played.

*

* “The Merchant of Venice,” Road Theatre Company at Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, 8 p.m. Ends June 4. (818) 377-2002. Running time: 3 hours.