Perhaps the only thing that could make a Shakespeare play better is staging it in a historic Long Beach house with full tea service and, yes, maybe shortening some parts.
That’s exactly what actor and director Michael Taber does in “Tea with Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice” at the Historic Bembridge House in Long Beach, with three remaining shows scheduled through Saturday.
The Bembridge House is a Queen Anne-style Victorian home that’s been preserved for 120 years. Taber’s abridged version of the play unfolds with the first act in the house’s front garden, the second inside its drawing room and the third in its backyard.
“Throughout the piece, the audience will have a sense of being part of the story,” Taber said in a Stage Explorations interview, adding that a courtroom scene involving Jewish merchant Shylock is especially intimate staged inside the house.
“It’s like they’re actually there in the court with these characters,” Taber said of the audience. “They’re immersed there. They will be experiencing the live people as the characters right in front of and around them.”
Taber said he was inspired to create “Tea with Shakespeare” after experiencing an event at the Bembridge last fall. And since Shakespeare, tea and Victorian are all associated with England, he thought they’d make a great blend.
Though the house is not as old as Shakespeare’s play, it still takes audiences to a different time, Taber said. And “The Merchant of Venice” also features a place called Belmont, like Belmont Shores in Long Beach.
Having experienced the event last Saturday, I can say that Taber’s vision has blossomed beautifully. The tea experience is lovely, and the play is delightfully performed, with the historic house adding a transporting dimension.
Audience members first sit at pretty tables on the house’s front lawn for tea service by Mimi Masher, including scones, clotted cream, lemon curd and jam, with a choice of teas served in pots and poured into dainty cups with a strainer, plus finger sandwiches and desserts.
And lest you forget, you’re there for Shakespeare, Elizabethan music plays and a couple of characters come out to greet guests, heralding the play. They and all the other actors are amazing — expressive, clear and immersed in their roles.
Cassie Korrie makes an elegant Portia, a Belmont heiress (her beauty framed by the house’s front porch), with Emily Jerez terrific as her bold lady-in-waiting Nerissa. They have fun listing all the ways Portia’s countless suitors are just plain wrong for her — until she meets Bassanio, a Venetian gentleman played by Taber himself.
Their romance is verified by Bassanio choosing the correct box out of three that best reflects Portia’s soul, solidified with a ring and consummated for one night before Bassanio has to go to Venice to help his merchant friend Antonio (a sympathetic Andrew Laughery) and pirate-like companion Solanio (an animated Nate McFadden) when all Antonio’s cargo ships sink.
Antonio is now indebted to Jewish moneylender Shylock, excellently played by Charles Massaro, who brings a depth and conviction to his character that adds weight when he contends that Christians and Jews are the same (“If you prick us, do we not bleed?”).
For the second act, seated around the Bembridge’s stately wood-paneled drawing room, the audience is immersed in a courtroom scene presided by Duke Salerio (a dignified Aaron Pelt) as Shylock demands a pound of flesh from Antonio as compensation, Bassanio by his side. But little do they know that Portia is there, too, disguised as a male lawyer.
As a woman in love, not only was Portia willing to give her fortune to pay off the debts of her new husband’s best friend, she’s also willing to use her genius to save him in court, reading Venetian law to turn the tables on Shylock in a major way, and really underscoring the racism inherent in the text that was prevalent at the time.
Though today’s audience feels for the shamed and broken Shylock (especially as so well embodied by Massaro), the third act brings a happy reunion in the Bembridge’s backyard as Bassanio and Antonio return to Belmont, except — ruh-roh! — Bassanio handed over the ring Portia gave him to a certain lawyer back in Venice…
“Tea with Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice” is a true delight. With only three shows left, one only hopes Taber can add performances or perhaps develop future “Tea with Shakespeare” events at the Bembridge.
Taber said about this unique experience, “I’m just excited to share this story and share my love for the arts.”
“Tea with Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice” continues through May 9 at the Historic Bembridge House, 935 N. Park Circle, Long Beach, with shows Thursday, May 7 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 9 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. For tickets, visit TheBembridgeHouse.org/events.