Vindicating Shakespeare: A Theater Director’s Study of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice by Stephen Byk

Professional theatre director and educator, Stephen Byk uses methods specifically designed and developed by theatre artists and theorists in this investigative analysis of Shakespeare’s work. Vindicating Shakespeare approaches the play as a work of theatre art to be performed, not as a static literary artifact. With a running commentary as to how the play must have appeared to the Elizabethan audience, the play and characters come alive through deep, psychological insights into character motivations and examples of directorial solutions for acting and staging. It is both a study of Shakespeare’s mastery of the art of the theatre and a critical analysis that exonerates the playwright of the historical accusation of antisemitism levelled at him for over four hundred years.