The Merchant of Venice 1936 – The Lowry
The timing of this production could not be better, setting as it does one of Shakespeare’s most problematic plays amid the rise and fall of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in mid-thirties England.
With certain tech giants performing “Roman salutes” and the frightening rise of fascist political parties taking place across Europe, we seem to be returning to the dark days of the 1930s. This adaptation of Shakespeare’s play powerfully brings to life the vicious remorselessness of bigotry and how it can be fought and defeated.
Projected onto the back wall were the sensationalist antisemitic headlines of the day, newsreel clips of fascist marches and Mosley’s call for “Britain First.” The frightening echoes of what is happening now were stark but the play also reminded us that th...
