RSC's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Screens Tonight at Folger Theatre

The Folger Shakespeare Library continues its collaboration with Picturehouse Entertainment to bring the Royal Shakespeare Company from Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon to Washington, D.C. with a screening of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE tonight, September 12th at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20 and $15 for Folger Members.

RSC Live: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE is directed by Polly Findlay, in her first Shakespeare production for the RSC. A joint winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, she is considered one of the UK's leading young directors. Award-winning Palestinian-Israeli actor Makram J. Khoury (The West Wing) stars as Shylock.

In the melting pot of Venice, trade is God. With its ships plying the globe, the city opens its arms to all, as long as they come prepared to do business and there is profit to be made. With the gold flowing all is well, but when a contract between Bassanio and Shylock is broken, simmering racial tensions boil over. A wronged father, and despised outsider, Shylock looks to exact the ultimate price for a deal sealed in blood.

RSC's production design is striking, with a set made of brass, contemporary costumes, and live choral music. It is an innovative, modern production of a thought-provoking play that in its ageless exploration of prejudice, religious bigotry and what it means to be a human, speaks directly to a 21st-century audience.

RSC Live cinema broadcasts offer a unique "event cinema" experience -- different from watching the play in the theatre and different from watching a film. Cameras are placed around the RSC's thrust stage auditorium, offering an unforgettable and intimate experience making cinema audiences feel right in the heart of the action of this outstanding production of Shakespeare's uncompromising tragedy.

The screening at the Folger is perfect for audiences wishing to familiarize themselves with Shakespeare's controversial classic before Aaron Posner's world premiere adaptation set in post-Civil War Washington, DC -- District Merchants -- debuts at Folger Theatre in May 2016.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is one of the world's best-known theatre ensembles. The Company focuses on works by Shakespeare, other renaissance dramatists and contemporary writers. The RSC is dedicated to attracting and inspiring the best artists both on stage and behind the scenes, to produce performances of the very highest standard.

It's an ensemble company. Everyone in the company, from directors, actors and writers to production, administrative, technical and workshop staff collaborate in the RSC's distinctive and unmistakable approach to theatre. Although based in Stratford-upon-Avon, the RSC regularly performs in London, Newcastle upon Tyne and other UK venues, as well as touring overseas.

Underpinning the Company's work is recognition of the importance of their base in Stratford-upon-Avon. Having housed the RSC for the past five decades, this Midlands town is also home to a team of vastly experienced craftspeople and theatre-makers whose skills and dedication are present in every performance be it in London, on tour in the UK or abroad.

For more information on the RSC visit www.rsc.org.uk.

IF YOU GO:

RSC Live: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Saturday, September 12 at 7:00pm

Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol St., SE, Washington, D.C.

Tickets: $20/$15 for Folger Members

Available online at www.folger.edu or by phone at (202) 544-7077

Metro: Capitol South (blue/orange lines) or Union Station (red line)

Parking: Limited street parking in Capitol Hill neighborhood

Folger Theatre is the centerpiece of Folger Shakespeare Library's programs for the public and is recognized for dynamic performances in its 250-seat Elizabethan-styled theatre and for specializing in innovative stagings of works by Shakespeare, other classical work, and new plays inspired by these traditions. Since 1991, Folger Theatre has been honored by the Helen Hayes Awards with 23 awards and 135 nominations for excellence in acting, direction, design, and production -- including the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Resident Play in 2011 for Hamlet (a year in which all three of Folger's theatrical productions were nominated in that category) and in 2013 for The Taming of the Shrew. In 2012, Folger Theatre brought Shakespeare's Globe's Hamlet from London for the company's first Washington appearance and continued that collaboration with the World-to-World two-year global tour of Hamlet, as well as bringing the touring production of King Lear featuring Joseph Marcell to the Folger in 2014. Folger Theatre produced The Two Gentlemen of Verona with the highly celebrated Fiasco Theater Company, a production that went on to win two Helen Hayes Awards, including "Outstanding Ensemble in a Play," and was restaged at the Theatre for A New Audience in New York City for an extended run this summer. In November, Folger Theatre will partner with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival to bring their critically acclaimed Pericles to Washington, D.C. before that production transfers to The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Janet Alexander Griffin is the Artistic Producer of Folger Theatre and Director of Public Programs which includes the Folger's music and literary series.

Folger Shakespeare Library is a renowned center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts. Home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for research material from the early modern period (1500-1750), Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K-12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs -theatre, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs. A gift to the American people from industrialist Henry Clay Folger, Folger Shakespeare Library -- located one block east of the U.S. Capitol -- opened in 1932 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Learn more at www.folger.edu.

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