New play will reimagine themes of Merchant of Venice

By Regan Lipes

(AJNews) – On October 26, even the rainy gloom of an Edmonton autumn did not deter an enthusiastic crowd of local creative talent, theatre folk, and enthusiastic civilians of the arts from congregating at the ArtsHub Ortona for an exciting and intellectually stimulating staged-reading of a new, and provocative play: Merchant(s) of Venice by playwright Jessy Ardern, Ariel Levine and Amanda Goldberg.. Yes, that is correct – not the Shakespearean classic, but a re-envisioning of core topics that for centuries have been considered controversial in the work.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a version of the play that I recall as particularly problematic, but I’ve definitely seen it not handled well,” commented director and dramaturg Amanda Goldberg in a recent virtual interview with the Alberta Jewish News. “I think that a major problem with how the play is often staged is that Shylock and Jessica aren’t actually played by Jewish actors.”

But, re-imagining a work like The Merchant of Venice in a new and respectful way was a challenge. Navigating the landmines of antisemitic inuendoes, and outright prejudice became the ammunition to drive the Merchant(s) of Venice’s critical examination. “We were sitting in a sandwich shop talking about the project, and the ideas kept flowing,” explained Goldberg with passion. “We decided to explore how the play was approached in different time periods in different places,” elaborated Ardern. “The productions that we reference all happened; they were real stagings that we looked to. The scene at the Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv was an actual mock trial that was staged because of outrage over the play.”

The space-time-continuum was definitely thrown to the wind in an innovative and artistically elegant decision to shift between historical times and geographical spaces: Shakespearean London, Kristallnacht in Berlin, the historic Drury Lane Theatre in London, the Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv, New York, and Stratford Ontario. With each move through time and space a theatre company struggled to put on a performance of The Merchant of Venice, and in each instance different obstacles were facing the cast. Without spoilers, some of the hurdles faced by the casts were the debate over whether Shylock is a comical or tragic character, the core themes of antisemitism being indicative of critical social examination or pure hatred of Jews, and a surprisingly thorough continuous discussion over gender roles in various manifestations.

Ardern and Goldberg began this journey together in 2023, and seeing the work come to life as a staged-reading was a meaningful realization. “This is an important stage in the workshopping process,” said Ardern, “and we take the feedback we receive very seriously.” She admits that she is waiting to decompress after a week of whirlwind of rehearsals and preparations, but she and Goldberg are eager to put some of the constructive criticism they have been given into action.

Goldberg elaborated that when speaking with other Jewish artists, she received great support for the undertaking. “My Jewish colleagues felt that this was an important project. There was this feeling about works being staged about us, but not by us.” She and Ardern were both adamant that their re-envisioning of Shylock must be played by a Jewish actor, and that the ongoing discussion they hoped the play would inspire, address Jewish audiences absent of an orientalised gaze.

The play’s pivotal role of Richard, the fictional actor tasked with playing Shylock, was brought to life charismatically by the wildly talented and utterly captivating Canadian actor, Dov Mickelson.  Mickelson’s performance was electric, and even as a staged-reading, the powerful boom of his voice reverberated stirringly within the core of each audience member. Everyone in attendance was no doubt thinking the same thing: that they would love to see Mickelson play Shylock for real in Shakespeare’s controversial masterpiece.

Another memorable cast member was David Sklar, an astonishingly dynamic and versatile actor who delivers fast-paced dialog like no other. Sklar’s chemistry onstage with his fellow castmates brought a sense of tangible reality to what unfolded in each of the time periods. He brought both sincerity and hilarity to the performance.

Edmontonians from the Jewish community were able to recognize another familiar face: that of Shaina Silver-Baird. Silver-Baird’s vocal performance of Jewish music at the annual United Jewish Appeal campaign launch in 2024 was well-attended, and a thoroughly enjoyable evening.  This time, the Toronto-based Jewish actor and musical artist joined the staged-reading cast illustrating her versatility and skill as a multidisciplinary performer.

“The Merchant of Venice has been treated differently at different times,” Goldberg commented. “Yes, Stratford vowed never to stage it again because there were actually incidents of coins being thrown at Jewish students in the audience,” interjected Ardern. “But then, five years later, they did stage it again,” concluded Goldberg with bemusement. For hundreds of years theatre companies have struggled with myriad complications in approaching the work responsibly and respectfully. At times, as captured in the Berlin scene, antisemitism was a positive highlight of the work, while the Habima staging demonstrated everything dangerous about how the work could be perceived.

The conclusion that The Merchant(s) of Venice comes to is that there is no one answer to this persisting quandary. The Merchant of Venice can be staged with antisemitism at its core, or a critical presentation that responsibly examines the play within the context it was written.

In “Jews and Devils: Anti-Semitic Stereotypes of Late Medieval and Renaissance England” Frank Felsenstein helps to better contextualize the attitudes that would have dominated Shakespeare’s time. “At the root of the Christian stereotype of the Jew was the accusation that it was he who was responsible, as much as his forefathers, for the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ. The crucifixion is to be carried by every generation of Jews. Instead of being God’s chosen people, the Jews have become, through the death of Christ, eternally accused” (Felsenstein 18).

In this way, The Merchant of Venice can be read not as an antisemitic play saturated in ancient hatred, but as a representation of a historical period with insights into the misconceptions of Jews. “The typical occupation of such a figure, the lending of money at interest, is also to be seen as the work of the Devil, and in contradiction to the Scriptures” (21). Horrific though this is, examining such depictions is critical to better understanding the evolution of antisemitism to what it is today. “All these aspects of the stereotype combined to portray a pariah to be both hated and feared, who, with the mark of Cain upon him was to be seen as a perpetual outsider, an analogue to the figure of the Wandering Jew” (23).

European history is no stranger to depictions of Jews by Gentiles that rely on prejudiced caricatures: Ivan Turgenev, Aleksandr Pushkin, Anton Chekhov, and Shakespeare’s contemporary Christopher Marlowe. To simply denounce these works would be to turn a blind eye to the suffering endured by Jews through the centuries who faced these societal barrages of slings and arrows. What The Merchant(s) of Venice accomplishes through its witty fast-paced dialog is a subtly brilliant provocation to discuss, debate, and examine critically – hallmarks of what it is to be a Jew.

Special thanks are extended to historical dramaturg Ariel Levine, the Edmonton Arts Council, Freewill Shakespeare, and the Citadel Theatre for their contributions and support of this project.

Regan Lipes is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.