The Shylock and the Shakespereans
Written and directed by Edward Einhorn
A darkly humorous retelling of The Merchant of Venice.
Originally Played:
June 1 – 17, 2023
at the New Ohio Theater
154 Christopher Street
Read the bios of all our participants!
Synopsis: The Shylock is a Jewish diamond seller named Jacob, called “shylock” as a slur. The Shakespeareans are a gang of white supremacists, led by Jacob’s former clownish servant, Gobbo. Jacob finds himself in a business entanglement with the merchant Antonio, a Shakespearean, while Jacob’s daughter Jessica has fallen in love with the son of Asian immigrants and faces her own battles against prejudice. And in Belmont, an heiress named Portia subjects her suitors to a strange, nonsensical game. When Antonio’s business encounters hardship, he reneges on a debt with Jacob then spreads the rumor Jacob wants him dead. A trial in a kangaroo court follows.
Gobbo: Craig Anderson
Salarino: Ethan Fox
Salarina/Aragon: Janine Hegarty
Jessica: Yael Haskal
Bassiano: Chapman Hyatt
Lorenzo: Chase Lee
Nerissa: Stephanie Litchfield
Jacob: Jeremy Kareken
Portia: Nina Mann
Terach/Prince: Kingsley Nwaogu
Antonio/Shakespeare: Eric Oleson
Gratiano: Thomas Shuman
Female Understudy: JaneAnne Halter
Male Understudy: Nathaniel Meek
(Understudies have planned performances on June 11 & 15)
Music: Richard Philbin
Stage Manager: Berit Johnson
AD/Sound Design: Becca Silbert
Set Design: Mike Mroch
Costume Design: Ramona Ponce
Lighting Design: Eric Norbury
Video/livestreaming: Iben Cenholt
Assistant Costume/Wardrobe: Erica Reichler
Assistant Scene Designer: Tyler Herald
Fight Choreography: JaneAnne Halter
Production Assistants: Nick Hamparyan, Mia Jurkunus, Aria Martinelli, Aimee Reiss, Mirit Skeen
Press Representative: David Gibbs/DARR Publicity
Poster art by Eric Shanower
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes, including intermission
NOTE: The play includes antisemitic and racist hate and violence, as well as the sound of gunfire.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program); as well as The Schapiro Fund.
Photos by Richard Termine
A RELATED PLAY ENTITLED A SHYLOCK WAS ORIGINALLY PERFORMED:
Theater 22 in New York City, February 1997
Cast:
Jacob: John Blaylock
Launcelot: Peter Brown
Hamlet: Catherine Dunning
Tubal: Martin Epstein
Portia: Dina Ipavic
Shylock: Daniel Leventritt
Antonio: Wesley Stevens
Jessica: Deborah Vaughan
Synopsis: To find the title character of A Shylock, Jacob Levy interrogates every character in The Merchant of Venice, but oddly Hamlet may know the most-although this Hamlet is a woman. Each scene represents a different interpretation of the character, from Communist to Freudian to tragic to comic.
Production Team:
Produced by David A. Einhorn
Artwork by R. Keith Rugg
What Critics Are Saying
“Jeremy Kareken's Jacob is wise, an empathetic reading of the character masterfully played, and Craig Anderson excels as the foil, a compelling performance that pulls from the darkest, laziest, and most destructive form of bigotry...Gobbo is also funny – malapropisms of the best kind abound...But it is Jessica (Yael Haskal) who stands out as the undeniable star both of the narrative and of the production. She is reimagined such that her isolation – the liminal space that she occupies as neither Jew nor Christian – is centered. Haskal’s performance is devastating... Nina Mann brings an equally compelling performance as Portia – her commanding poise and composure anchor her presence as gentile privilege personified and shine another source of light on the horrible realities that Haskal’s Jessica is doomed to live.”
— Noah Simon Jampol, Thinking Theater
“A well-acted, thought-provoking story with a solid point of view... Craig Anderson skillfully embodies Gobbo’s use of a charismatic facade as the bully leader of the Shakespeareans to hide his intellectual challenges and his cowardice. The character also provides some comic relief with his malapropisms. Stephanie Litchfield gives a strong comedic performance as Nerissa giving the character a lightness of expression that borders on slapstick without going overboard. Her comic timing and comedic physicality fit perfectly with the character. Jeremy Kareken’s portrayal of Jacob’s struggle is compelling. Equally as solid is Eric Oleson’s characterization of the egocentric arrogance of Antonio when it comes to money, his business interests, and his hatred of Jews... Yael Haskal's performance in the penultimate scene is emotionally powerful. She brings out all of her repressed deep feelings for her father.”
— Scotty Bennett, Theater Scene
“[The Shylock and the Shakespeareans] masterfully recasts the playwright [Shakespeare] as the villain of The Merchant of Venice… Through its dialogue and storytelling, the production also offers a clinic on the nature of anti-Semitism, which operates in its fictional Europe not merely as a personal prejudice, but as a form of structural exclusion, as well as a conspiracy theory that blames Jews for social and political problems. This, Einhorn argues, is the world that Shakespeare shaped…The two characters [Jacob and Jessica] are powerfully portrayed by performers Jeremy Kareken and Yael Haskal, respectively….By looking the text in the eye and compelling audiences to do the same, The Shylock and the Shakespearians does something no production of The Merchant of Venice ever could.”