Comical Treatment of Queer Identities in The Merchant of Venice (Yugoslav Drama Theatre, 2004)

Abstract

By analyzing the performance of The Merchant of Venice directed by Egon Savin, this paper explores the connection between the queer and the comic in contemporary Serbian theatre. The theoretical premise is that humor is a deeply paradoxical phenomenon: although it is usually perceived as a positive, vitalist, and subversive force, humor also functions as a repressive and conformist cultural mechanism that strengthens social norms. Our case study is a typical example of the stereotypical representation of queer identities which aims at inducing the comic effect. Antonio, the merchant of Venice, is portrayed as a typical inauthentic, superficial, and promiscuous gay man, while the character of Bassanio strengthens the most common representation of a bisexual as manipulative and mischievous. The most complex is the queer identity created by cross-gender casting in the interweaving of the physical body of the actor Dragan Mićanović and the semiotic body of the character of Portia. Considering the fact that there is no conceptual vindication for the cross-gender casting in the case of Portia, the incongruity of the man in a woman’s role primarily functions as a source of laughter. The excluding humor, based on the ridicule of queer identities, is partially amortized by the nuanced acting of Dragan Mićanović, which denaturalizes the Portia’s gender, emphasizing her queerness.