Shakespeare’s timeless play, The Merchant of Venice is headed to the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, but comes with a modern spin on the classic story.
Presented by Bell Shakespeare, Scope Business Imaging and BREC, the dark yet humorous play about love, mercy and justice is set to delight Bunbury theatre fans on Saturday, August 5.
Bell Shakespeare have a reputation for bringing Shakespeare’s works to life with a modern edge while never straying from the original messages and context, and playing the role of Shylock in the play, Mitchell Butel said that’s exactly what they’ve done with The Merchant of Venice.
“Our director, Anne-Louise Sarks, has set it in a modern setting so all the Christians look very hot in their slim suits and what not whereas I’m dressed as a traditional Orthodox Jew with the long clothes and the prayer shawl,” he said.
“There’s a few little adlibs in there but it’s the original Shakespeare text in a modern setting.
“It’s amazing that something written in 1590 is still very relevant for a modern audience. You still find that all those racial groups and religious groups have problems with each other, those kind of antipathies are still very much alive so it goes to the heart of how we get along and how we work all that stuff out.”
The three-time Helpmann Award winner said the play explores a number of issues that still resonate today.
“Shylock is a Jewish money lender who arranges a contract with a Christian money lender called Antonio who is the actual Merchant of Venice, but the consideration for that contract is a pound of flesh so if Antonio doesn’t pay back that money, Shylock says he will take a pound of flesh from him,” he said.
“What starts off as a joke, well when Antonio does default on the loan, Shylock gets nasty and demands that he does take the pound of flesh.
“But ultimately the whole play is an exploration of difference – religious difference, socioeconomic difference, racism, all that kind of juicy stuff and the common humanity between us all.”
Director Anne-Louise Sarks said she’s excited to bring a play that tackles themes that speak to our current society.
“I adore the complexity that is alive in The Merchant of Venice. Characters are not good or evil but regular people who have some terrible ideas and do awful things,” she said.
“We can relate to them. Setting our production in a paired back contemporary style will allow those questions and ideas to resonate in an Australian contemporary context.
“No one wins. It is uncomfortable. It is a complexity that we are often denied in our narratives.”
And Butel said Bunbury audiences can expect a masterfully envisioned production that constantly tackles preconceived notions of one of Shakespeare’s most challenging plays.
“It’s a ripper of a play,” he said.
“I love that ultimately with Shakespeare you don’t actually know who the real villains and the real heroes are – you’re constantly switching your allegiance between them.
“It’s like all great drama – you’re constantly guessing which way it’s going to go and because it’s not black and white, you’re constantly putting yourself into the situation and questioning what you yourself would do.
“For me, that’s the kind of drama I love seeing and hopefully Bunbury audiences will also enjoy.”
The Merchant of Venice also features Wonderland star Jessica Tovey as Portia and will enthrall Shakespeare fans at BREC on Saturday, August 5 at 7.30pm. To purchase tickets, visit bunburyentertainment.com.