Photos of a previous cast.
Okay, hands up, I’ll start this with some brutal honesty. Me and the works of the great William Shakespeare have never really got on. Throughout school, I was never shown any of it beyond that Romeo and Juliet movie, and never had the opportunity to experience it live in my time as a student. I was simply presented with pages of text and expected to understand, leading to me always struggling with the wordy complex language and leaving me with a feeling that I would never get it. But here we are, years on from my school days, trying more Shakespeare. But I must admit, there may have been a connected deciding factor pushing me to book The Merchant of Venice 1936 with it being the second Shakespeare in 2 years to star a former cast member of my beloved The Play That Goes Wrong and I love to support the former residents of Haversham Manor, whilst learning more Shakespeare.
Here, the tale of Shylock and their request of a pound of flesh from Antonio in the place of an unpaid loan transported to London in 1936, against the backdrop of Cable Street. Therefore, this reimagined production examines antisemitism by putting the Jewish Shylock directly in the path of rising fascism. Portrayed by Tracy-Ann Oberman as a windowed mother in this interpretation, we see Shylock’s insistence of a pound of flesh over the offer of increased repayment showing her hatred of how she has been treated by others, ie, the Christians of the original text who are seen here as antisemites. With these tones, this piece of Shakespeare’s work has often been referred to as problematic, but this version placed within the time period of the battle of cable street where anti fascists fought back, adds depth and invites audiences to relate this to the much more modern rise in antisemitic attacks.
The Merchant of Venice blends comedy and tragedy. Bassanio (Gavin Fowler) wants nothing more than to wed Portia (Georgie Fellows) but only the suitor who picks the right casket can win her hand, made to choose gold, silver or lead. Lords and maharajah’s try and fail, flaunting their wealth. When the down on his luck Bassanio convinces Antonio, played with a stoic air by Joseph Millson, to get him a loan from the money lending Shylock so that he can play for Portia’s hand, Antonio boasts of his confidence of his ships at sea bringing back the money to cover the repayment. After all, he is a brave and confident man who doesn’t fear the threat of losing a pound of flesh. And whilst laughter comes from the game itself and Portia’s enforced promises against Bassanio that he must never give away or lose her ring, the tragedy lies in the knowledge that Antonio’s ships never return and he must repay that loan.
Comedy comes too in the form of Xavier Starr’s overly confident Gratiano, the perhaps self proclaimed group leader of young men with hearts set on love alongside Fowler’s young lover Bassanio and the gentlemanly Lorenzo, played by Mikhail Sen in a very different role than I’ve previously seen him play (The Play That Goes Wrong’s Chris Bean). It is Lorenzo’s relationship with Shylock’s daughter Jessica that gives the otherwise harsh solidly business minded Shylock a heart as we see her as the broken hearted mother desperately searches for her runaway daughter.
I must reference here, as someone who has always struggled with the language of Shakespeare, that in context I was able to follow the story with very little trouble. Whilst the action is placed entirely within 1936, the original language is still used. Some of it may have been a little bit lost on me, but I understood what was being said in relation to the story, making this a rather accessible form of Shakespeare in my opinion.
The story’s blend of comedy and tragedy keeps the audiences intrigued from start to end, and whilst yes, elements of the plot could be seen as troublesome, it slots well into the timeline in which this production (adapted by Brigid Larmour and Tracy-Ann Oberman) places it. Liz Cooke’s set and costume design oozes with 1930’s glamour, with the wealthy donned with silk, fur and dapper suits, clashing powerfully against the dark grey brick of Cable Street and the black and white of the newspaper headlines projected across the stage.
The Merchant of Venice 1936 is powerful and striking, telling a difficult story in a historical context that truly makes it hit home. And, without giving too much away, the final moments pack an emotional powerful punch.
Comments