Theater Review: District Merchants

Our perception of virtually every play in the Shakespearean canon is influenced by whom we believe wrote it, as the regional premiere of Aaron Posner’s District Merchants reveals in the discussions that have ensued regarding the original script and this adaptation. For those who believe the premiere theatrical works of the ages were composed by a borderline literate grain dealer turned actor from Stratford, their perception of the Merchant of Venice and its adaptations tends to characterize the play as anti-semitic, given the British Decree of Expulsion of the Jews in the 12th Century and the resultant virulent public behaviors; on the other hand, those who believe that the works were composed by a particular nobleman—educated by the greatest minds of the Renaissance and informed by his extensive travels on the Continent, particularly his time in Venice—tend to see the play as a depiction of anti-semitism by its “Christian” characters, based on the playwright’s actual experiences with the inhabitants of Venice and its Jewish ghetto, as well as a £3000 investment with a Michael Lok, in an ill-fated maritime trade venture, shortly after his return to England from Venice.

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