The Merchant of Venice

Venice – gondolas, pigeons and tourists. Not with Shakespeare. In his time, Venice is a mercantile metropolis. Capital rules here with its iron laws. Today Shakespeare’s tragicomedy THE BUYER OF VENICE seems to be a play from the globalized world. Migration, xenophobia, global trade, conflicts between religions – this is the Venice in which the slightly depressed merchant Antonio operates. In today’s understanding: a global player. His business: high-risk speculation.

When his friend Bassanio needs a good sum of money to woo the beautiful princess Portia in a foreign kingdom, he helps him. He generously guarantees a loan with his ships to the wealthy Jew Shylock. The loan flows promptly, but the promissory bill has it all. Shylock’s bitterness about his social position is expressed in the contract, as draconian as it is bloody, to be allowed to cut a pound of flesh from his creditor’s body if the latter does not repay the borrowed money on time.

While Bassanio is still struggling to find Portia, Antonio’s ships sink in a storm and Shylock demands his rights. A young judge presides over the trial – it is Portia disguised as a man….

THE BUYER OF VENICE fits into the here and now, into the open discussion of integration and assimilation, like hardly any contemporary play. In addition to the actors of the fringe ensemble, the production therefore also features gangster rappers, break dancers and hip-hoppers on stage.