The rave-reviewed The Merchant Of Venice 1936, starring Tracy-Ann Oberman, will tour next year to northern dates Liverpool Playhouse (February 4-8); Leeds Playhouse (February 18-22) and The Lowry in Salford (February 25-March 1).
Oberman (EastEnders, Doctor Who, Friday Night Dinner) is reprising her starring role as the first British actress to play Shylock. Already seen in two sold-out runs at HOME Manchester in 2023, the ground-breaking production will open at the Trafalgar Theatre in the West End this December, before the tour.
Adapted by Brigid Larmour and Oberman, this new version transports Shakespeare’s classic tale of ambition and power to 1930s East London, against the backdrop of the Battle of Cable Street.
With the city on the brink of political unrest, fascism sweeping across Europe and Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists threatening a paramilitary march through the Jewish East End, strong-willed single mother Shylock runs a pawnbroking business from her house in Cable Street. When charismatic, antisemitic aristocrat Antonio comes to her for a loan, a high-stakes deal is struck. Will Shylock take her revenge, and who will pay the ultimate price?
Oberman said: “I am delighted that MOV1936 is coming back; demand has been so high that I feel it is essential.
"The message of my female Shylock – based on my Great Grandma, a widow in the East End standing up to Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists, with all her neighbours and others horrified by the message of BUF – feels more pertinent than ever.
"The play is about unity and standing together against hatred. Its impact has been beyond my wildest hopes and ambitions for it.”
More info here