What truly drives human conflict? Race, religion, politics or perhaps, even love? This is the central question behind MERCHANT, a powerful re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice by 3rd Culture Theatre.
In this provocative re-imagining, 3rd Culture Theatre is relocating the play to Shanghai 1890, using the opium trade between China and Britain as the historical backdrop. Antonio is a British opium merchant, representative of the many who made their fortunes from the illicit trade and Shylock is a Chinese pawnbroker.
The heart of the play is an examination of the similarities between the relationship of the Jews and Gentiles in the play, and the current situation with China and the west.
The Jews/Gentiles and Chinese/westerns have a very complex relationship, one that is distrustful, competitive, and occasionally outright hostile. Yet they are bound together because of financial interdependence.
Ultimately, MERCHANT seeks to cast a fresh and provocative light on the conflict between the play’s central characters of Antonio and Shylock, using it as a prism to identify and examine the many issues that fuel our prejudices.
MERCHANT has been in development since 2013 when the Royal Shakespeare Company chose the project for its Studio programme.
