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"""A thorough and insightful analysis of Shakespeare's play. A must-read for professionals and students alike."" - Explore Authors Magazine Professional theatre director and educator, Stephen Byk uses methods specifically designed and developed by theatre artists and theorists in this investigative analysis of Shakespeare's work. Vindicating Shakespeare approaches the play as a work of theatre art to be performed, not as a static literary artifact. With a running commentary as to how the play must have appeared to the Elizabethan audience, the play and characters come alive through deep, psychological insights into character motivations and examples of directorial solutions for acting and staging. It is both a study of Shakespeare's mastery of the art of the theatre and a critical analysis that exonerates the playwright of the historical accusation of antisemitism levelled at him for over four hundred years."

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Reader's Favorite Review by Vincent Dublado Reviewed By: Vincent Dublado Review Rating: 5 Stars Reviewed By Vincent Dublado for Readers' Favorite A theater director comes to the rescue in vindicating the Bard from accusations of anti-Semitism. In Vindicating Shakespeare: A Theater Director's Study of The Merchant of Venice, Stephen Byk offers an explanation and resolution to the questions that beset this problem play, which raises far more questions than it answers. The gist of this book is that the majority of armchair critics approach The Merchant of Venice as a static literary artifact-an erroneous perspective if you are to take into consideration that a play is meant to be performed instead of just being read and subjected to excessive deconstruction. Byk approaches the play from the combined perspectives of its playwright and performing artists that provide illumination on Shakespeare's take on appearance and reality. Literary critics and scholars are probably not aware that the profession of theater arts has developed its own analytical methodologies that all actors and directors learn and use. Literary critic Harold Bloom once wrote that one would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to recognize that Shakespeare's grand comedy The Merchant of Venice is nevertheless a profoundly anti-Semitic work. Moreover, it does not help that this play was a favorite of Nazi Germany, something that further gives credence to its anti-Semitism. But this is where Byk's experiences as an actor, educator, and theater director come into play. He brilliantly argues that while there are anomalies in Shylock's character that open up the claim of anti-Semitic interpretation, what the snobbish critics do not see are the principles of artistic and dramatic performance that refute a hate-filled reading. Playing Shylock as the same individual from start to finish is wrong. One must not ignore the role of character development that contributes to the depth of Shakespeare's portrayal of a tormented soul. Vindicating Shakespeare is highly recommended not because the world needs another book on Shakespeare, but because of the simple idea of how much of the Bard we can really know. A thousand scholarly pieces have been written about him. Yet we seem to have barely scratched the surface.

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