Adaptation of the play by Shakespeare.
Cast
- Owen Weingott as Shylock
- Tanya Halesworth as Portia
- Ron Graham as Bassanio
- John Unicomb as Antonio
- Annette Andre as Jessica
- Barry Creyton as Lorenzo
- John Faasen as Gratiano
- Carolyn Keely as Nerissa
- Alistair Roberts as Lancelot Gobbo
- Leonard Teale as the Prince of Morocco
Original play
You all know it, right?
Other adaptations
Too many to list but... In September 1961 the ABC presented a radio adaptation of the play done in Melbourne, with a cast including Patricia Kennedy and James Bailey.
It had just been performed onstage in Sydney by John Alden.
It was adapted by the BBC for TV in 1947 and 1955 and a bunch of times for BBC radio.
The ABC did it on radio in 1951 and 1954.
Production
Alan Burke did the adaptation himself. He said it "adapted beautifully" to the screen (this was in a 2006 oral history with NIDA).
The Sydney Morning Herald called it "the most important television play of the year. and among Sydney's actresses the role of Portia was the most sought after."
It went to the relatively inexperienced Tanya Halesworth who was a presenter at the ABC (she had only acted once on stage in The Women). She won the role over two other candidates. Director Alan Burke said "I am not unduly worried that Tanya hasn't done Shakespeare before because I haven't produced a Shakespeare play before."
Burke saw Portia "as a beautiful debutante, the darling of the deb set of her day. I wanted a beautiful girl for the role, one with wit, astuteness, vivacity; but one with a little bit of edge to her tongue. Tanya has all these."
All members of the cast except Halesworth and Andre had experience doing Shakespeare. Weingott, Graham, Roberts and Vernon had all performed their roles in previous productions of Merchant on stage.
Annette Andre later recalled:
I played Jessica, Barry Creyton played Lorenzo. He became famous on Australian TV with The Mavis Brampston Show
I think in the ‘60s. He now lives in Los Angeles. One of my friends,
Tanya Haylesworth played Portia – she was a TV presenter but also did
some acting. And here I was, a nice Catholic girl – God! I’m a long way
from that now – playing Jessica, daughter of Shylock. I would’ve loved
to play Portia, but Tanya gave a wonderful performance.
Barry Creyton later recalled:
That was memorable for me, it was a large, lavish production. Being live, you were constantly running from one part of the stage to another, from scene to scene. I remember during my vital speech to Jessica, “how sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank”, a makeup girl dropped a jar nearby. That was very disconcerting, but being live, we just continued as if a makeup jar dropping onto concrete was a common sound in old Venice.
The Sydney production went out live, but the play was recorded by kine for showing in the rest of Australia – this was a method of filming simultaneously via the TV camera lens – there was no video tape in 1960. The kine lost half an hour of sound, so Annette Andre (who played Jessica) and I had to go back to the studio to loop one of our scenes. I remember in the scene I was in a gondola (on wheels) punting my way up the Venetian canals; and there was a balcony scene. My first experience of looping, that was very exciting.
Even when video tape started it was very primitive. In 1964 doing the Bramston Show, if we flubbed a line, we couldn’t go back and simply do the line again, we had to do the entire segment again. You couldn’t edit videotape easily then. It was very primitive until the late 1960s.
The director of Merchant of Venice was Alan Burke. He became a good friend – I respected him tremendously. He wrote the book for Lola Montez, the stage musical, which was a staggering breakthrough in Australian theatre. He became a great buddy and even though I never worked for him again, he was always a champion of my work as an actor. He was a very gentle, erudite man. Very sympathetic – he knew exactly what he wanted from actors and how to get it without ranting and raving; he would coax it out of you. We wanted to make the Shakespeare accessible to even a non-Shakespearean ear. We tried to make it sound like actual conversational English and were criticised by old Shakespearean actors for doing so. My leading lady at the Sydney Music Hall [where Creyton performed in the early 1960s] was Fernande Glyn and she told me, furiously, she couldn’t understand why we ignored the poetry.
The production employed three cameras. We got to know where our close ups would be, where our long shots would be – it was handled with great efficiency.
Live TV had its drawbacks for an actor like me, who was brought up in theatre. It was like rehearsing a play exhaustively for just one performance. We rehearsed for a month and then it was over. In the theatre, if you were lucky, you got to perform a play eight times a week for many months and you could always improve and hone a character. Live TV drama was anti-climactic that way.
Leonard Teale had appeared in a production of the play at the Independent.
Alan Burke later talked about casting. He said there was a lot of using of the same actors in plays around this time.
I loved using people who were new because the television casting when I first went into it was very much the ‘known’ people. People were playing safe because there were so many imponderables in the new medium everybody, including the directors I’m sure, wanted to make it as good as possible. You didn’t take any risks, so you cast ‘known’ actors....
So one liked to break that nexus but to do it with some confidence that the person you’re going to pop in at the deep end is going to deliver and that was always a wee bit of a risk. I don’t think, touch wood, that I ever actually made a tremendous boo boo in casting but for instance... Merchant of Venice and Owen Weingott was going to be Shylock and all the rest fell fairly nicely into place but I didn’t have a Portia. Somebody fleetingly mentioned, you will remember no doubt Tanya Haylesworth who was a presentation lady in the days when we had presentation announcing. And I thought ‘she would be absolutely spot on’. She’s very intelligent which Portia needs to be, she speaks beautifully, she looks great, I wonder. So I got in touch with her and said ‘would you be interested’ and ‘yes’ but a little dubious, however I said ‘well look, I think I’d like to take a punt’ and I did and she was absolutely wonderful and I was absolutely delighted.
Another occasion Merchant of Venice which preceded that, full of chaps. Endless men to cast and very difficult and I lacked (what is the character who does ‘how sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank’ what is his name? Anyway it will come back to me). I’d used quite a lot of youngish well spoken people who could cope with the verse you know and I thought now I’ve got that blank and I cannot see anybody about and into my office floated a young actor, he was in fact doing a Season with Williamson’s and they happened to be playing in Sydney at the moment. He came to me and asked if he could read and a splendid baritone, beautiful most resonant voice and intelligent and so I said would you mind reading me this. And he read me ten lines maybe twenty and I said ‘yes thank you very much, I think I’d like you to play this’ and it was Barry Creyton who later went on to big things in the Mavis Brampton and what have you. But he had never at that stage to my knowledge set foot in a television studio but he gave a lovely performance and I was very pleased and that it warranted a bit of a risk I took...
Tanya was doing some amateur work, independent. I worked with her with the same principle as I’ve always said ‘let her find the way to do it, but this is the event I would like to result from what she is thinking’, and she had no difficulty. A wildly intellectual lady, very very serious. She studied psychology and things later on. You could throw an idea at Tanya and let it burgeon and it would very beautifully and some less intelligent people you couldn’t. You’d have to say spell it out a bit more you know. But with Tanya, the greatest compliment I can pay Tanya is that Paul O’Loughlin (sp?) who was Head of Drama when I was doing ........... said the next morning, ‘the marvellous thing was that “the quality of mercy’ didn’t come out like a quotation, it flowed absolutely naturally as dialogue’ and I said ‘there’s the lady’. She would not sing an aria, she would think intelligently and say ‘what’s this about?’ Oh well this is it and I would make my point to that actor, playing Shylock . I didn’t have to change anything in my way of dealing with people. ..
Merchant of Venice was the first Shakespeare I had done for television, in fact the first Shakespeare. I don’t think I’d ever done any on the stage and I did the adaptation. We were allowed two hours which was great, later they became ninety minutes which is a bit tough but the two hours was lovely. We could take it at a decent pace, we didn’t have to rush anything. Gorgeous cast..
[Barry Creyton had] the wonderful ‘how sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank’ speech which is one of the very great, most poetic and beautiful speeches. And he did that absolutely beautifully, unfortunately live and one of the make up ladies dropped the lid of a box of powder on the studio floor during that speech but never mind. We didn’t do anything wildly innovative with it except that at one stage Shylock’s daughter Jessica elopes with whoever this character is and we had a sort of fake gondola at the back of the stage as they went away and that was quite pretty. And we had Shylock coming back and discovering her missing and going through the house and eventually the jewellery I think is missing. We’d made it a long silent sequence with music with about three minutes of Owen in a state of distress scouring the house and finding the jewel box which when is opened was full of pebbles. Things like that, it was quite interesting.
Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald called it "a masterful piece of work in which a predominant young cast gave the play flesh-and-blood virility".
The Australian Woman's Weekly said the play was "an eye-opener to me. THE eye-opening came from the depth of Tanya Halesworth's portrayal of Portia, the strength of Owen Weingott's Shylock, and producer Alan Burke's fresh interpretation and splendid production. I expected it to be good, but not as good as it was."
The play was screened in Melbourne along with two other Shakespeare plays on the school syllabus, A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Royston Morley production of Hamlet.
In the Vincent Committe testimony from O Healy - head master of Sydney Grammar School. Why listen to him? Anyway p 180
I am thinking of are those rather minute presentations of Shakespeare that we have seen the B.B.C. do and which we have seen done by the A.B.C. here. I must admit that I missed the second one, which you mentioned to me, and I greatly regret that. Those that I have seen which have been indigenously produced, have been variable in quality. I think, for instance, of the experiment-! suppose it was one-about eight or nine months ago with “The Merchant of Venice” which I thought was very pleasantly produced. It was quite charming. Perhaps it was not absolutely first-rate, but I think we can waste a good deal of time worrying about whether things are first rate or not. This is a matter of long experience in building up tradition. I thought that some of the historical plays that have been put on were promising, again if not quite first class. I do not say this in any patronising way, because nowadays I regard myself as an Australian.
My thoughts
This ABC production aired in 1961. It was directed ("produced") by Alan Burke, who had a strong theatrical pedigree: he worked for the Elizabethan Theatre Trust, and many of the TV plays he directed were based on stage plays.
The Merchant of Venice is one of those Shakespeare works that everyone knows, but which seems to evoke a lot of mixed feelings; it has some classic speeches and moments, plus the legendary characters of Shylock and Portia, but has been dogged by allegations of anti-Semitism.
Off the top of my head, I can't recall a notable film version of the play - there may be something inherent in the material that goes against cinematic adaptation.
Burke's handling of the material feels a lot more confident than in the only other production of his I have seen so far, The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day. He is clearly at home with the material. The acting is very good. Owen Weingott is a strong Shylock, but everyone is in strong form; audiences will get a kick out of seeing actors like Barry Creyton, Annette Andre, Leonard Teale (in brownface) and John Gregg in the cast. Creyton told me that Burke instructed the cast to go for the meaning of the words rather than the poetry, and that is an effective technique.
Random trivia - Ron Graham, who plays Bassanio, is the dad of Marcus Graham. Once you know that, you can't stop thinking about it!
Tania
Halesworth was a presenter rather than actor. Alan Burke said she was
the best actor for the role; I get the feeling maybe he was also
attracted to the publicity factor of her casting - he would give Murray
Rose his first TV role in My Three Angels.
The sets and costumes are theatrical - it seems "toy town" rather than authentic. But then, how else to do it? The budget would not have stretched to a truly accurate representation of Venice. (As it is, the sets are quite elaborate for a studio production.)
There is a lot of charm in the
production. It's not one of my favourite Shakespeare's but the actors
acquit themselves well and it has been made with care and love.
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| The Age 7 Sept 1963 |
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| AWW 27 Sept 1961 p 19 |
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| SMH V Guide 4 Sept 1961 p 1 |
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| SMH TV Guide 4 Sept 1961 p 4 |
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| AWW 6 Sept 1961 p 19 |
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| SMH 14 Sept 1961 p 11 |
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| SMH 10 Sept 1961 p 68 |
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| SMH 11 Sept 1961 p 15 |
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| SMH 13 Sept 1961 p 12 |
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| SMH 13 Sept 1961 p 12 |
Filmink Article
In the early days of Australian drama, the mystery wasn’t why the ABC produced Shakespeare, it was why it took them so long to getting around to do it. Shakespeare was Culture. Shakespeare was politically safe (always a consideration when spending taxpayers’ money). Shakespeare was on the high school reading list, so there was a guaranteed audience. And Shakespeare was, well, the greatest dramatist of all time (arguably).
The ABC didn’t get around to tackling the Bard until 1959, three years after TV started in Australia… but when they did, they did it in style with spectacular, no-expenses spared productions of Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra on the one night (one in Sydney, the other in Melbourne). It was followed by productions of Macbeth, Richard II, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Othello, Macbeth again, Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet. And, in 1961, they did The Merchant of Venice.
I’d probably classify Merchant of Venice as a second-tier masterpiece in the Shakespeare cannon. It’s a comedy-drama, I guess (though everyone seems to remember the drama more than the comedy), about a merchant in Venice named Antonio who borrows money from Jewish moneylender, Shylock, in order to help his friend Bassanio marry Portia; Antonio defaults, so Shylock – in a cranky mood because his daughter, Jessica, has eloped with a Christian, Lorenzo – comes after a pound of flesh, literally, and it’s up to Portia to save the day.
The play is deservedly famous and contains some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters (Shylock, Portia), and legendary speeches (“the quality of mercy”, “hath not a Jew have eyes”). It’s also problematic, as the kids say these days, because of allegations that the play/Shakespeare/the heroic characters are anti-Semitic. I don’t really want to wade into that field, except to say – yeah, it is, pretty much, especially at the end with everyone ganging up on Shylock. The play still gets produced/discussed a lot, in part because Shylock is such a fantastic role: the actors who have played him include Orson Welles, Edwin Booth, and Al Pacino. And because Antonio seems to be hot for Bassanio.
The ABC decided to film it in 1961. The director assigned was Alan Burke, who hadn’t done Shakespeare before, but enjoyed a strong theatrical background, and had been behind a number of TV play adaptations. It was shot in Sydney at ABC’s Gore Hill Studios and starred Owen Weingott (Shylock), John Unicomb (Antonio), Ron Graham (Bassanio), Tanya Halesworth (Portia), Barry Creyton (Lorenzo), Annette Andre (Jessica) and Leonard Teale (Prince of Morocco). These were all experienced actors (Ron Graham was the dad of Marcus “E Street” Graham, just FYI), with one exception: Halesworth, who had only appeared once on stage before, but was one of the most popular TV personalities in the country, and had a freshness and energy that appealed to Alan Burke (he had a soft spot for stunt casting: American dancer Joe Jenkins in the title role of The Emperor Jones and champion swimmer Murray Rose in My Three Angels).
The ABC didn’t stint on the production – there were elaborate sets and costumes, plenty of extras. It’s a charming rendition of Shakespeare, a presentation of its time but very well-acted. Barry Creyton told me “we wanted to make the Shakespeare accessible to even a non-Shakespearean ear. We tried to make it sound like actual conversational English.” I think that decision paid dividends. Everyone is very sweet. Leonard Teale’s brown-face hasn’t aged well, though it’s always a pleasure to hear his voice and watch his acting. Owen Weingott is excellent as Shylock, who is sympathetically depicted – but still gets ganged up on at the end, as per Shakespeare.
Alan Burke shows skill with blocking actors and moving the camera, though is reticent to use close ups apart from when characters are performing soliloquies. It will help if you’re familiar with the play, but then you can say that about most Shakespeare adaptations. Bassanio and Antonio seem more interested in each other than Jessica, but again, you can say that about most Merchant of Venice adaptations.
I sent a copy of the film to cast members Annette Andre and Barry Creyton who I’ve previously interviewed for FilmInk. They kindly offered their thoughts on a production nearly sixty years old:
Barry Creyton: “Merchant was a live production in Sydney; consequently, I’d never seen it in its entirety until you unearthed the recording. A short segment of the “kinescope” lost sound, and I returned to the studio to loop a few lines of dialogue. Due to the repetition demanded in looping, this scene was the only one that remained in my memory until I saw the video of the whole a few weeks ago.
“I was greatly impressed by the seamlessness of the production, the performances, and the fluidity of Alan Burke’s sensitive direction. Owen Weingott was a powerful Shylock, Tanya Haylesworth a thoughtful and attractive Portia. It was a great joy to see so many old friends and colleagues at the peak of their talents.
“Seeing oneself at twenty-one is a considerable shock and my first reaction was to seek out a time machine to go back and do it all better! Sixty years on, I’ve had the joy of playing and directing Shakespeare, and oh, how I wish I could apply the knowledge I have now to what I did then. Freud said it best: ‘If only youth knew, if only age could.’
“One thing I did realise then, and appreciate more so now that I’ve seen the recording, is how fortunate I was to have played opposite Annette Andre who was so accomplished, warm and utterly reciprocal in her understanding of our scenes together.
“While I’d been steadily employed in theatre and radio since my late teens, this was my first major TV gig. I was lucky, indeed, that it was in a superior production that is enjoyable to watch even today, and comparable to live British TV productions of the same period.”
Annette Andre: “I very recently watched a recording of ABC’s The Merchant of Venice some sixty-odd years later. Of course, one always has mixed emotions when viewing yourself, but I tried to see it these many years later through professional eyes.
“I must say, I thought it was a brave decision to produce a Shakespearean play in those early TV days. I doubt any of us actors, except perhaps a couple who had gone to London for a while, had any training in Shakespeare. There were no drama schools in Australia; we learned by instinct.
“I remember being thrilled to be acting in a Shakespeare play, but I was also aware of my inexperience. Things were made more difficult by the lack of time for rehearsal. But as I watched it the other day, I found myself pleasantly surprised by some of the performances, particularly by Tanya Haylesworth as Portia and Owen Weingott’s Shylock. For my part as Jessica and Barry Creyton’s Lorenzo, we portrayed sweet, young things without much dramatic impact. But in saying that, I feel grateful to have had that experience. It certainly was a huge step towards my future career.”
The author thanks Annette Andre, Barry Creyton and Chris Keating for their help with this article.
From the ABC report of 61/62
DRAMA AND FEATURES
A.B.C.
drama, in radio and television, offered the public a very wide range of
plays from the classics to plays written in Australia. Since the
beginning of its TV service, the A.B.C. has been anxious to encourage
Australian authors to write For the new medium and this, year was able
to present a consecutive season of six local plays, representing about a
quarter of the total TV drama output. These plays, each of
approximately one hour, were an encouraging result of the work that has
been done to interest local writers in TV.
There is increasing
overseas interest in A.B.C. plays. In addition to several A.B.C.
productions accepted by C.B.S. in the U.S.A., telececordings of two
plays were used by Associated Rediffusian in the U.K..
The
popularity of the Australian historical serials telecast in the past
two, years led to the commis- sioning of a third serial, The, Patriots,
dealing with the early days of William Charles Wentworth, his conflict
with Governor Darling and the emergence of demands for democratic rights
and freedoms. This serial in ten episodes was Written by the
Australian, Phillip Grenville Mann, and its production acquired the
co-operative effort of many people, in planning and research as well as
in the studio.
While the classics are expensive in TV, the
presentation of Sheridan's The Rivals in Melbourne and Shakespeare's The
Merchant of Venice in Sydney were well worthwhile, not only
artistically and as entertainment, but as aids to thousands of students
for whom these plays were examination texts.
Of special
interest, too, was the televising of the mediaeval drama, The Play of
Daniel, from the crypt of St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.
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