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Articles tagged with: Jonathan Munby

In unvarnished look at ‘Merchant of Venice,’ there is little room for the quality of mercy

Aug 11, 2016 – 12:32 pm
Feature 3

Review: In a tradition dating back to Shakespeare’s own time, “The Merchant of Venice,” which frames bitter hatred between Christians and Jews in a metropolis of a distant era, has been labeled as comedy. I doubt that anyone who sees the brutally frank Shakespeare’s Globe production now running at Chicago Shakespeare Theater will come away laughing. ★★★★★

‘Othello’ at Chicago Shakespeare: Evil cedes center stage to a figure tragic and splendid

Mar 24, 2016 – 10:04 pm
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Review: What is so striking about the current, altogether marvelous production of “Othello” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater is that the beleaguered Moor is no mere catalyst in the very events of which he is the object, but rather presents himself as a man – a great military general — worthy of his reputation. In the person of James Vincent Meredith’s Othello, and in the care of British director Jonathan Munby, Shakespeare’s play for once does not seem to be first and foremost about Iago. ★★★★★

Role Playing: Dion Johnstone turned outsider Antony to bloody purpose in ‘Julius Caesar’

Mar 19, 2013 – 1:29 pm
Actor Dion Johnstone

Interview: The actor who portrays Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” draws one of the greatest speeches in the Bard’s canon: the dramatically pivotal funeral oration for the slain Caesar. But that opportunity, says Dion Johnstone, whose eloquent and driven Marc Antony fires the current production at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, comes freighted with compact and perilous challenges. “From the moment Marc Antony enters the Senate and sees Caesar’s bloody corpse, with Brutus and the other assassins all still there, he’s in serious danger,” the actor says. “And despite his overwhelming grief, he has to think fast.”

Chicago Shakespeare Theater texts ‘Caesar,’ modernized and picture-perfectly true to Bard

Feb 15, 2013 – 7:35 pm
David Darlow as Caesar's ghost in Julius Caesar at Chicago Shakespeare 2013 credit Liz Lauren

Review: ★★★★