SOURCE: "Thirteenth Night," in The Observer, July 12, 1987, p. 19.

The current RSC production of The Merchant of Venice at Stratford, directed by Bill Alexander, designed by Kit Surrey, lit by Robert Bryan and starring Antony Sher, grapples with the savagery of the play more powerfully than any Merchant in recent years. The same team has moved straight on to Twelfth Night (RST, Stratford) and the difference is extraordinary. There can rarely have been a version of this disturbing comedy so bland, humourless and cold. Its destruction is completed by a star performance from Sher whose effect is about as subtle as a run-away truck.

Surrey sets the play, handsomely enough, on the little square of a white Greek island against a brochure-blue sky, but this architectural setting, which abounds in door-ways, roofline steps, windows and climbing-joists, is hardly used at all. It is mere scenery. There is little sense...