SHOULD THERE BE A DANCE AT THE END OF MERCHANT OF VENICE?

SHOULD THERE BE A DANCE AT THE END OF MERCHANT OF VENICE? Today’s Financial Times has a review by Ian Shuttleworth of the new production at the Globe of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. He concludes by writing, “I wish the Globe would give over its policy of ending all productions with a dance by the cast.” (He notes that a recent production of OTHELLO concluded with Othello and Desdemona participating in a dance). I had previously noted that up until 1599, Shakespeare’s plays concluded with a “jig”, a half hour of broad comedy with dancing. MERCHANT OF VENICE was written before 1599 at a time when there would have been a jig. What the Globe does is apparently much shorter than a jig, but Shuttleworth refers to seeing Shylock “cut a merry little caper.” I originally posted on the jig because it seemed it would be startling for a modern audience at the conclusion of a tragedy. But perhaps the jig (or the Globe’s dance) can be viewed as a postmodern commentary that, after all, we have only been watching a play. Shuttleworth concludes his review by observing that in the dance the Globe pairs the merchant of Venice, Antonio, who is probably gay, with a drag-queen courtesan.