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By Laura Kressly
Should we even be staging Shakespeare’s anti-Semitic play featuring a Jewish moneylender depicted as an unfeeling avenger, forced conversion to Christianity and reams of violent language? I’m inclined to say no, but this production goes some way in counteracting the anti-Semitism. Though the contemporary context is largely superficial rather than embedded into the story and it’s not always clear which character is which, director Alex Pearson has fought against the script’s inherent racism with the addition of Jewish prayers and a movement sequence.
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