Last Updated on January 27, 2026
A re-examination of antisemitism in Shakespeare’s controversial play.
I doubt that any production of The Merchant of Venice ever opened with the lighting of candles to usher in the Jewish festival of Passover. But then this Merchant, opened at Criterion Theatre, is no ordinary production. Transposed to London’s East End, this contemporary interpretation of The Merchant of Venice takes place in 1936 with the threat of rising Fascism. Shylock is a resilient, widowed single mother, running a small business from her home in Cable Street. Played by Tracy-Ann Oberman, Shylock is a survivor of pogroms against Jews in Russia, now she faces the threat of Oswald Mosley and his band of Fascists who are planning a march through the Jewish East End. The Battle of Cable Street was a key moment in British political history and this production takes one of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays and retells an often-forgotten part of local history. With antisemitic attacks now soaring in the UK, it feels like a particularly poignant time for a re-examination of this play.
Directed by Brigid Larmour, in association with the RSC, the Watford Palace Theatre and HOME Manchester, this is the most powerful production of The Merchant of Venice I can recall seeing. I never enjoy watching this play as its running theme of antisemitism is so uncomfortable that I’ve often wondered why the play needs to be staged. This production grabs the bull by the horns and remakes it. Not that the antisemitic tropes and vile utterances (of which there are many) are any less offensive and distressing, but in turning it into a story about how antisemitic attack was resisted in the Battle of Cable St in 1936, it offers some hope that racism can be resisted. Ironically, since the play was first performed in 2023, the UK has experienced the sharpest rise in antisemitic attacks in decades. In this context, the play is even more disturbing and felt on a visceral level. The Merchant of Venice 1936 does not feel so much like a play with antisemitic tropes as a play that directly examines antisemitism. In locating the play within the historical context of Britain’s own Fascist movement of the 1930s, the audience is directly challenged to consider contemporary racism. This is no longer a drama unfolding in Italy as Shakespeare wrote it.
Oberman puts in a memorable performance of a woman who bravely deals with the daily attacks on her character and stakes her claim amid ongoing racism and constant ‘othering’ as an ‘alien’ member of society. Her foreign accent emphasises her position in English society. Her stubborn insistence that she has her ‘pound of flesh’ despite being offered repayment of the money loaned to Antonio, creates her own undoing. However, the play makes clear that the hatred towards her and all Jews means that all will not end well for her no matter what. When Shakespeare wrote this play in the closing years of the 16th century, there were only a handful of Jews living in England. Jews had been expelled from the country in 1290 and were not readmitted until years after the play was written. Yet, despite the absence of Jews for nearly 300 years, antisemitic sentiments retained enough power for Shakespeare to write one of the most enduringly famous Jewish characters in Western literature.
Other notable performances in A Merchant of Venice 1936 include Raymond Coulthard as Antonio, both charming and menacing. He commanded the stage with a lightness of touch even as his Fascism grew. He also played a wonderfully camp and hilarious Arragon who tries to win the hand of Portia. Hannah Morrish as Portia also put in a fine performance as an independently spirited woman who has been controlled beyond the grave by her father’s insistence that she not choose her own husband. Her performance as the lawyer at Shylock’s trial was also impressive.
Excellent use was made of the back wall on which footage from the 1936 events was projected. This was chilling as Jewish homes were attacked with a Kristallnacht soundscape of breaking glass, and Shylock’s home was daubed with antisemitic graffiti.
Erran Baron Cohen’s compositions wove together Jewish folk and religious tunes with brooding music that foretells the growing racism as it unfolds on stage.
I felt uncomfortable with the ending of the play when the audience was encouraged to its feet. With political divisions and tensions running as high as they currently do, I’m not convinced the West End is an appropriate space for audience members to feel pressed to express their solidarity. Or at least it is not for me. That said, this is a disturbing and discomforting production that runs very close to the bone. Shakespeare’s plays remain relevant to our contemporary times because he understood the human flaws that do not change over the centuries. Tragically, antisemitism continues to trouble our country now perhaps even more than in Shakespearean England.
The Merchant of Venice 1936 runs at Criterion Theatre until 23 March 2024.
Criterion Theatre
218-223 Piccadilly,
St. James’s,
London W1J 9HR
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