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Merchant of Venice

Saul Rubinek plays a version of himself in 'Playing Shylock,' about an actor whose dream to play Shakespeare's controversial Jewish character is thwarted by timid producers. (Dahlia Katz via JTA)
October 25, 2025, 3:05 am
Saul Rubinek’s new one-man show asks, ‘Is there ever a right time to play Shylock?’
On now at Brooklyn’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center, ‘Playing Shylock’ voices a fictional Jewish thespian’s complaints over a canceled production of the ‘Merchant of Venice’
By Andrew Silow-Carroll
Tracy-Ann Oberman in 'The Merchant of Venice 1936.' (Marc Brenner)
December 17, 2024, 10:07 am
A female Shylock battles 1930s UK fascists in new adaptation of ‘The Merchant of Venice’
Skyrocketing UK antisemitism after Oct. 7 adds meaning and poignancy as acclaimed actress and playwright Tracy-Ann Oberman puts a new spin on a play she’s ‘always hated’
By Robert Philpot
Left: Orthodox Jews congregate in Venice’s ancient Jewish ghetto. (Photo by Paolo Raccanelli); Right: Cover of 'Shylock’s Venice: The Remarkable History of Venice’s Jews and the Ghetto,' by Harry Freedman. (Courtesy)
October 26, 2024, 1:00 pm
Poetry, philosophy and a gambling rabbi: A colorful history of Venice’s Jewish ghetto
In ‘Shylock’s Venice,’ UK author Harry Freedman paints a vibrant picture of an oft-overlooked side of Jewish history that goes far deeper than the famous Shakespeare character
By Rich Tenorio
Venice Jewish Ghetto (YouTube screenshot)
July 27, 2016, 8:50 pm
Merchant of Venice opens in city’s historic ghetto
Shakespeare’s ‘comedy’ prsented for first time at scene of some of its action; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg attends grandson’s performance, part of 500th anniversary of Jewish enclave’s establishment
By JTA
People sitting by the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, September 25, 2014. (AP/Luca Bruno)
March 9, 2016, 10:11 pm
Ghetto to mark 500 years with ‘Merchant of Venice’
Performance of Shakespeare play on Venetian Jewish moneylender to headline events in Italy’s ‘floating city’
By AFP
The Habima plaza (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash 90)
July 22, 2012, 10:49 pm
Revived on Rothschild Boulevard, Israel’s national theater finally takes center stage
A play might not change the world, but it can provoke some fresh thinking, say Rut Tonn and Ilan Ronen, masters of collaboration and innovation at Habima
By Jessica Steinberg
Shakespeare's Globe theater in London (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
May 28, 2012, 11:09 pm
Pro-Palestinian protester arrested for disrupting Habima performance in London
Security guards remove screaming activists from Shakespeare’s Globe theater
By ToI Staff and AP
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