Maria Mizzi reviews Christopher Marlowe’s classic play The Jew of Malta staged at the Manoel Theatre by MADC.
First staged in 1592 by Lord Strange’s Men in Elizabethan England, The Jew of Malta was penned by the ill-fated Christopher Marlowe and reads like a play ahead of its time. One can easily see the influence it had on William Shakespeare’s later work, The Merchant of Venice.
Although Marlowe’s play can be construed as anti-semitic when viewed through a contemporary lens, it was written during a very interesting period in England’s history, when Jews were banished for nearly 300 years only to be allowed to return in 1655. At the time Marlowe wrote this play, Jews were a great inspiration for playwrights, poets and writers in general. However, they often resorted to exaggerate the characters in a pejorative way due to the lack of interaction with them.
Barabas, our title character, is no exception. He is the self-proclaimed richest Jew in the Mediterranean, who is stripped of all his wealth by the governor of Malta who has taken contributions from all Jews in Malta to pay off the warring Ottoman Empire.
With the help of his slave Ithamore, Barabas goes on a murderous rampage, killing a number of characters close to him throughout the play.
In Shakespearean terms, the character could be said to be akin to a mix of Shylock through his monologues and his usurer ways and the infamous Macbeth, who committed foul murder to reach greatness. Barabas, who dominates the play with his cunning wit and blood-thirsty plans to eliminate anyone and everyone who was in some way responsible for his downfall and his losses, is played quite skilfully by the very talented Mikhail Basmadjian, who gave this character a new life with an upbeat performance.
Although speaking in a language which many find difficult to relate to, he had people giggling, gasping and empathising with his wicked ways. He knew what he was speaking about, what he was saying and felt as comfortable with the language as he would with his own mother tongue. He was truly a delight to watch and kept his momentum throughout the performance, never once failing to impress.
This, of course, is not to say that the cast around him didn’t help. To name but two, Joseph Zammit, who plays Ithamore, and Naomi Knight, who plays Barabas’ daughter, were definitely two high points of the night.
Zammit gives a delightful performance as the Turkish slave of Thracian descent who becomes the right hand to Barabas. His Ithamore provided the undercutting of violence through comic relief as well as helping the narrative move forward by proving himself to be Barabas’ equal in murderous Playedlans and in having no qualms in executing them, whether it’s murdering a whole nunnery of nuns helping to strangle a friar, or pinning two young men against each other to death. His performance was enjoyable and in managing to keep up with Basmadjian’s energy, he provided the amusement to help keep the audience’s interest piqued during the long performance.
Knight, playing Abigail, Barabas’ daughter, gave a beautiful performance as a daughter who is willing to do all for her father but meets his rage when she goes against his wishes after discovering he killed his beloved out of spite for his family. Her monologues were superb and her performance fearless.
One of the highlights of this production was the close attention to details in costuming by Denise Mulholland. From the lavish suits and shirts worn by Barabas to the traditional head scarves worn by the female cast members (still worn today by young unmarried women), the costumes made this production looks picturesque, authentically classic and contemporary at the same time.
The governor’s costume struck me as being quite interesting because in my eyes it was similar to the costume chosen by Orson Welles for his adaptation of Julius Caesar in 1937, which was inspired by Italian Fascist dictators. This married well with the idea of the character we see in front of us and also kept the performance well grounded in history.
Last but not least, I would like to spare a word for the beautiful nun habits, especially the Reverend Mother’s look that seemed to be inspired by Greek icons, a black bejewelled habit adorned with gold.
I thoroughly enjoyed this performance, although the length may be an issue and could have possibly benefitted with some editing and removal of some scenes.