A WARNING has been slapped on one of Shakespeare’s best known works, advising theatre-goers it contains scenes of 'anti-Semitism and bullying’.
Which play?
The Merchant of Venice, written in 1605, tells the tale of Bassanio, a poor nobleman in Venice, who needs funds to woo beautiful heiress Portia. The Merchant of Venice, Antonio, takes a loan from the Jewish Shylock to help his friend to court Portia. But Antonio cannot repay the money and Shylock demands a pound of his flesh. Portia, now the wife of Bassanio, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio.
And where is it being performed?
In the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in Shakespeare’s Globe theatre on the banks of the River Thames in London. A theatre was built close to the site of the current Globe in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company. The modern take opened in 1997 with the late US actor a leading figure in its revival.
So what’s the warning exactly?
The play, running until April 9, is described as "an unflinching new production", told by candlelight, focusing on "a world where money turns the wheels, men call the shots and your religion or race can open or close doors", asking: "If Jewish Shylock plays by the rules, will he win?” The warning attached states: “This production contains racism, including antisemitism, anti-black racism and colourism. It also includes strong language, scenes of a sexual nature, flash photography and loud noises.”
Anything else?
The theatre’s twitter page adds that “The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most problematic plays with its themes of antisemitism” and links to a blog on its official site, titled: “England and the Jews, before Shakespeare”. The blog itself has a content warning that states: “This blog is about the history of racism against Jewish people and contains material and images that may cause harm or distress”. It says “the archives of England are silent” on how English Jews felt at the time and adds we may need to “critically imagine” the answer to this.
It’s a long-standing issue now?
Shakespeare’s work has increasingly come under the scrutiny of modern eyes. Earlier this month, The Telegraph reported a Globe Theatre project exploring Shakespeare's work found Hamlet to be a "race play". English scholar, Dr Ian Smith, who focuses on Shakespeare and race, said Hamlet was "a character wrestling with ideas of blackness".
The response?
One tweet responding to the Merchant’s warning asked, “Can we all just be treated as adults without woke warnings?” Another wrote: “His plays are performed year after year, after decade and century, because they are complex and there is so much to discover as long as you have the right teacher along the way and are willing to explore the stories fully.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel