Preview: The Merchant of Venice

Coming into Week Four with a bang, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is boldly set to stage at the Cambridge Union this Friday. Questioning the controversial history that the Union itself is steeped in, this reimagining of Shakespeare’s “most controversial play” will have you at the edge of your seat.

Why the Cambridge Union as a location? 

“Our executive producer (Hannah Collins) was very much behind the reimagining of the play – she chose the venue, and it helped very much in terms of developing ideas about how we were going to stage the play, and what would be [most] powerful about it,” says co-director Tom Runciman. 

The Merchant of Venice will be the first ever play staged in the chamber of the Cambridge Union. With a gripping courtroom scene, the chamber will set the scene for such a politically charged play. “Thematically, the play is about privilege and power – the sort of power that persists over time. The sort of people who uphold this power don’t really have to face consequences for their actions,” explains fellow co-director  Ben Phillips.

Runciman adds, “The government now is made up of people who have attended and spoken at the Union, whether Cambridge or Oxford. By reimagining it in a modern setting, we’re bringing [it into] the current political climate too.”

Image credits: Georgia Adams and Ben Phillips

How is the play being reimagined? 

The Merchant of Venice possesses one of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters – Venice’s moneylender Shylock, and antagonist to the main character Antonio. Often referred to as the “Jew of Venice”, past stagings focused on Shylock’s cruelty, rather than his humanity.

“Often, productions don’t seem to pay attention to his immense struggle. Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice for an antisemitic audience – I don’t think that represents our current time now,” says co-director Georgia Adams. 

We talked to Sol Alberman, who plays Shylock, and he confesses that characterising Shylock is a complex business in this reimagining: “Shylock is a complicated character – you can get 10 different interpretations out of him, and he only appears in five scenes. He might be sympathetic, but he’s also a character who has power, and can’t be fully acquitted for his actions either. [I intend to play him as] a character that is never passive to his circumstances.”

“Hates any man the thing he would not kill?”

Shylock, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4 Scene 1

Characterisation of other characters, such as Portia, will also be slightly altered – usually considered the “bold heroine” of the story, this staging is careful not to fall into the same trap of glamourising her character as such. Gwynn Horbury, who is set to play Portia, elaborates on her character’s cunning and machiavellian personality. “Portia is someone who runs rings around people in a disarming way,” she says.

Adams adds, “[She is] someone who is born incredibly rich and unbelievably clever – she has a ridiculous power of inflection she can use to move through the world, and manipulate those around her.”

Image credits: Georgia Adams and Ben Phillips

What do you expect audiences will take away from The Merchant of Venice?

Adams says, “Given that anti-semitism is such a current and pressing issue now, we hope that it would be really thought-provoking. Ultimately, The Merchant of Venice is about how power structures ultimately oppress minorities, and how we as a society contribute to these structures without realising it.” The power struggle that Shylock faces in the play is only a mirror to our own society now. 

“It’s designed to give people a bit of a jolt and ask this question: why do I go along with narratives without questioning them?”

Georgia Adams, co-director of The Merchant of Venice.

So, why should you go and watch The Merchant of Venice? 

Co-director Tom Runciman reportedly worked on Shakespeare’s original script, cutting down its original 3-hour runtime to simply 80 minutes. Its modernisation and simplicity of set is designed to feel timeless, and this staging of The Merchant of Venice will feel like it’s been plucked out of any timeframe, from the 1920s to present-day. No worries – you don’t have to crack open a copy of “No Fear, Shakespeare” to watch this production. 

With its impressive three-and-a-half week turnaround time, The Merchant of Venice will be looking unflinchingly at the long, controversial history of the Cambridge Union, and call into question the lasting consequences of such controversy that never seems to be commented upon. If you’re up for a razing, politically charged piece of theatre, animated by passionate actors and directors, this is the play to look out for in the coming week. 

The Merchant of Venice will be running at the Cambridge Union Chamber at 7:30pm from Friday 18th February till Monday 21st February. Matinee shows are also available at 2:00pm on Saturday 19th February, and Monday 21st February. Get your tickets here.

Featured image credits: Ama Konadu Otuo

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