Cincinnati Shakespeare has opened one of those talk-about-for-years-to-come productions. Urgent and chilling, it's a 20th-century Merchant of Venice that speaks eloquently of man's ongoing inhumanity to man.

        Under the direction of Jasson Minadakis, Merchant is filled with rage and insight. And it features the strongest full company ensemble work of the season.
       

Updated to 20th century

        It's no small irony that this drama-raised-to-tragedy is set in Venice, not far from Rome, where Christians were enslaved and thrown to the lions a few centuries earlier.

Bassanio (Brian Issac Phillips, center) watches as Shylock (Jeremy Dubin, left) and Antonio (Dale Hodges) seal their bond. (Vicki Rieger photo) | ZOOM |

        In the human food chain of Venice, the Christians have become the lions and the Jews the lower race to chew up.

        The costuming and effective musical underpinning clearly set the action in Europe in the second quarter of the 20th century. No comment is made on the politics of the time, and none is needed. It lives in our consciousness and permeates the action.

        The merchant is Antonio (Dale Hodges) who normally takes Polonius' advice to “neither a borrower nor a lender be” to heart but bows to the entreaties of lovesick Bessanio (Brian Isaac Phillips) who yearns to woo Portia (Amy Hutchins) and needs some cash.

        He turns to Shylock (Jeremy Dubin), a rich moneylender who asks for a pound of flesh as his due if the money is not paid within three months.
       

More interesting villain

        The text tells us that Shylock is a soulless villain, but he is something far more interesting here. Using body language and line readings, the crowd of Venetians make your skin crawl with their smug and cruel prejudice. The cool contempt of Ms. Hodges' Antonio and Giles Davies' hotheaded Gratiano are equally, corrosively effective.

        Mr. Dubin, who always has a volcano of intensity at the ready, becomes the heart of the play. This man, who has impotently bowed under every insult, finally explodes into pain-driven villainous behavior when his daughter (Corinne Mohlenhoff in a beautifully measured performance) runs off with a Christian.

        The action moves through a series of locales, all clearly delineated by music. It's a wonderful solution to the challenges of CSF's small playing space, already well met by resident designer Todd Edwards with clever use of platforms and elegant overlapping playing spaces.

        In Venice, the comrades hang out to a swinging big-band beat. Portia's serene home is marked by harp music provided by her companion (Anne E. Schilling) (where their girlfriend byplay gets to be a little much).

        Shylock pensively strums on his guitar and sings Jewish folk songs. Music doesn't just set place, it deepens character.
       

Heartbreaking climax

        It's as much a credit to Mr. Minadakis as to Shakespeare that we maintain an interest in the play's parallel plot line, in which a series of suitors try for heiress Portia's hand by choosing among gold, silver and lead caskets.

        That's particularly true when the production's climax comes midway through the second act when accuser and accused stand before a judge.

        Shylock, ready to take his pound of flesh, is broken instead in a scene that will leave you sick at heart. Then Mr. Minadakis finds the perfect ending note.

        Shylock doesn't manage to get a pound of Antonio's flesh, in the neighborhood of the heart. He does get a pound of ours.
       The Merchant of Venice, through March 18, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. 719 Race St., 381-2273.

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