Finding the Motivation behind "Shylock"

When director Andrew Parks called Joe Vierno to offer him the role of Shylock in his upcoming production of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” Vierno’s reaction was quick and assured.

“I said, ‘What are you, out of your mind?’ ” Vierno recalls.

There were three reasons for this response. First, Shylock is one of the most well known and thoroughly studied antagonists in the Shakespearean canon. Second, Parks had not yet held auditions for the production. And third, despite Vierno’s considerable stage experience, he has never, ever performed Shakespeare.

None of which fazed Parks in the least; Vierno had no idea he’d nailed the audition two decades ago.

“I had worked with him twenty years ago,” Parks said. “I was a stage manager for ‘My Fair Lady’ and he played Higgins in that production. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen him perform, but I was so impressed by the way he developed that character that I know his personality would be perfect for the three-dimensional Shylock we wanted.”

Vierno still wasn’t sold.

“I said give me a few days,” the actor remembers. A few days passed, followed by a few months, and on April 8, Vierno made his Shakespearean debut at  Playhouse 22, at the East Brunswick Cultural Arts Center.

And he enjoyed at least one advantage of having been cast without a formal audition; more time with the script. “When I went into rehearsals, I had about 75 percent of it down,” he said. “But that’s of no value until you get started. When you get up on your feet and hear the sounds of your voice with those of the other actors, it’s a very different thing.”

Parks also took advantage of more time with one of his main characters. “Andrew came over the house and we discussed meter, where we were going with Shylock,” Vierno said. He also notes one very obvious difference between Shakespearean and modern scripts. “No one talks like this,” he said, holding up the script. “But in a really short period of time, I understood what he was saying.”

What Shylock says, or more precisely what Shakespeare says through him, has been a matter of much conjecture since the play was written about 400 years ago. The play presents Shylock, one of the only Jews living in the predominantly Christian city of Venice, as a greedy, vengeful moneylender, leading many to argue the play is a highly anti-Semitic relic of a bygone era.

But Vierno believes such undertones live in interpretation, not in the script itself.

“It can be that,” Vierno said when questioned about the play’s intolerant reputation. “The way we’re doing it, it’s not going to be.

“We’re not making him a caricature. We’ve been finding all the motivation that pushes Shylock over the edge. He’s spat on. He’s not allowed to ply any other trade but usury. And then he feels that the Christians have taken his daughter away, not long after his wife dies.”

How does Vierno feel about his decision to take the Shakespearean plunge now?

“A tremendous challenge,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to it. There’s some really good moments in it.”

‘The Merchant of Venice’ opened Friday, April 8, and runs through Sunday May 8, with no performances the weekend of April 22 to 24. Curtain rises on Friday and Saturday night performances at 8 p.m., and at 3 p.m. for Sunday matinees. There will be a talkback with the cast after the Sunday, April 10 matinee.

For ticket information, click here.