The way Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, is portrayed has changed over the centuries. Initially, in Shakespeare’s day, he was played as a comic villain. In 1741, Charles Macklin was the first actor to take him seriously. In 1814, Edmund Kean was the first to treat him with compassion. In 1878, Henry Irving was the first to make him tragic.
In the 1930s, Nazi Germany used to stage the play as antisemitic propaganda. The Holocaust changed everything. Thereafter, theatres became highly sensitive to charges of antisemitism.
What makes Brigid Larmour’s touring production different is Shylock is played by a woman and the action is updated to 1936 and set in London’s Jewish East End. Newsreel footage of Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts and the Battle of Cable Street is used as a backdrop. The fascist context becomes much more interesting than the play itself.
Shakespeare’s text is heavily cut. The production lasts only two hours and that includes an interval. The play is much diminished. The comedy scenes with Portia and her suitors don’t work at all. The characterisation is thin and the acting is not good enough.
The scenes which work best are those involving Shylock. Tracy-Ann Oberman (whose great grandmother took part in the Battle of Cable Street) gives a strong portrait of a decent Jewish woman, who finally cracks. A victim of appalling racism, she turns to extreme and horrific revenge.
A slice of British history is plonked awkwardly on top of the finale scene. The production ends with the working classes rallying with the Jews and stopping Oswald Mosley’s march. The audience is asked to rise in solidarity. The whole theatre responded, instantly becoming immersive.
The war between Israel and Hamas and the rise of antisemitism has given Shakespeare’s play a timely relevance.
The Merchant of Vence 1936 is touring Malvern and Bromley in October and Cardiff, London, York and Manchester in November. For more information follow this link.
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