To what extent is H. Heyme's The Merchant of Venice a feast for the senses and the mind?

Abstract

The present article looks into the mechanisms employed by H. Heyme –a politically committed stage director– to convey through his production of The Merchant of Venice the play’s complex approach to the issues of race, religion and gender. It starts by analysing the Shakespearean hypotext and comparing it to the hypertextual transformation brought about by H. Heyme on V. Molina Foix’s Spanish translation of the play. It then examines the actors’ enactment of their roles as well as the relevance of visual and sound effects to his stage version. It finally delves into the paratextual statements of the play’s director and theatre critics in order to assess their perception of this production.