"Merchant of Venice"

In performance "The Merchant of Venice" often proves a problematic blend of romantic artifice and social realism. Especially since the last century, the figure of Shylock has focused attention on the play's anti-Semitism. Does Shakespeare promote a comic Jewish stereotype, or use that stereotype only to overturn it? Or does he expose the Christians as the true villains and Shylock as his victim? No production of "The Merchant" can be politically or socially disinterested: over the years, the play has tended to arouse more passion and to prompt more theatrical experimentation than any other Shakespearian comedy. The author examines the major solutions directors have offered for staging this "problem" play, from Henry Irving onwards. Recent productions such as the Miller/Olivier (1970), the Alexander/Sher (1987), and the two televised "Merchants" (1973, 1980) have adapted the play to accommodate or challenge contemporary sensibilities and prejudices.
Considering the play's popularity, not only in England and North America but in post-Holocaust Germany and even in Israel, this volume explores the ways in which "The Merchant" has served to test changing cultural attitudes towards race, religion, gender and theatrical practice.