Sport for Jove is a marvellous theatre company which has been producing the full repertoire of Shakespeare for a few years now. They are having a short season at the Seymour of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ which should be mandatory for anyone who has not seen Shakespeare and thinks it would be unintelligible or boring. The English is spoken with so much clarity that it seems just like modern English and enables the clever funny and poignant story to unfold seamlessly.

The setting is twentieth century, which works perfectly and the set itself is charming and effective. I had seen all the actors in different productions ( not just Sport for Jove theatre) and was aware of the level of acting talent in the cast and I was not disappointed. Shakespeare is true ensemble work, and only when every cast member is flawless does the play flow like liquid- which it certainly did. I have to make mention of Lizzie Schebesta, in the main role of Portia who was exquisite. Seeing her performance at the Seymour is worth the price of the ticket and I am sure that she will be inevitably busy with much larger and more costly productions…don’t miss this one!