The Merchant of Venice 1936 – Leeds Playhouse

There’s always a feeling of trepidation when creatives shift The Bard’s words into a more contemporary setting, but this production of an always controversial play completely resonates with the troubled times we live in

This adaptation by former Eastender Tracy-Ann Oberman and director Brigid Larmour is set in 1936 around the Battle of Cable Street in London’s East End as working class Jews and their allies stood together to kick Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists off their streets. Here the characters are on both sides of this bitter political battle.  Sound familiar?

Oberman is the first female Shylock becoming an East End money lender living off Cable Street who strikes a deal with Fascist noble Antonio, which has disastrous consequences for the single mum. This is a labour of love for Oberman as it is inspired by her own Jewish Great Grandmother who fled pogroms in the East to seek sanctuary in Britain.

Oberman brings all the skills of a top class TV performer to the stage as she naturally avoids all the hideous stereotypes that have plagued other productions. Instead, she offers a tough matriarch who demands her ‘pound of flesh’ partly because a deal is a deal, but more to seek payback for antisemite Antonio spitting on her in the street. It’s a clever move by Lamour to have Oberman have her back to the audience when Shylock says ‘I am content’ as she is forced to convert to Christianity, but you still feel her pain and humiliation.

Larmour successfully recreates 1930s Britain with contemporary clothes and lounge music as the set becomes festooned with fascist posters and antiemetic graffiti. Joseph Millson offers a brooding Antonio full of casual brutality and racism that is amplified by his being a pathetic wannabe Mosley, and Georgie Fellows is full of slinky menace as antisemitic socialite Portia, who could be one of the naïve posh girls who worshipped Hitler in the thirties.

In the intense courtroom scene as the wily business woman faces her racist enemies when the word ‘alien’ is uttered it is really disconcerting at a time when we see people being targeted by the Mosley’s of today because they fled for their lives. It is yet another testament to Shakespeare’s genius that he can offer a word of warning about the idea of the ‘other’ that echoes down the centuries.

At the show’s end the cast led by Oberman break the fourth wall to powerfully remind us of the sacrifices of the past, including a tribute to the people of Leeds who fought the fascists at the Battle of Holbeck Moor on 27thSeptember 1936.

As once again the scourge of antisemitism rears its ugly head in Britain this timely adaptation of Shakespeare’s most contentious play should remind any decent human that ‘if you prick us do we not bleed?’ is not just a smart line, but a reality for those unjustly targeted just for being who they are.

The Merchant of Venice 1936 is touring and to find out more go to https://merchantofvenice1936.co.uk

Reviewer: Paul Clarke

Reviewed: 20th February 2025

North West End UK Rating: