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Modern re-imaginings of Shakespeare are a risky business. Having endured a disastrous Zulu/Celtic interpretation of Macbeth (complete with river dancing witches) I can confirm that. Luckily, the European Theatre Group’s interpretation of The Merchant of Venice, directed by Celine Lowenthal and back in Cambridge after the longest running tour the group has ever had, navigates any potential pitfalls beautifully.

The set is initially the most striking feature of the production. Hung with corporate logos and Andy Warhol prints, it provides a space in which the script can resonate for a modern audience and implicitly make a point about consumer culture. How can Antonio’s ennui-laden lament or Portia’s dissatisfied grumblings not bring something to bear on our times when delivered in front of a grotesquely enlarged Apple logo or looming Facebook insignia? This persistent and expertly interwoven social commentary (the casket scenes were excellently judged, as were biting parodies of a Take Me Out style gameshow, for example) was thought-provoking without being heavy handed.

But all of this can only be achieved because of the cast’s mesmerising performances. Max Upton’s Antonio is, as we have come to expect from such an accomplished actor, beautifully judged and without undue sentimentality in the closing scenes. Kay Dent’s Portia and Julian Mack’s Bassanio were no less nuanced and Rosie Brown and Tania Clarke as Salarina and Salania more than did justice to the play’s comic edge. It seems unfair to single out these characters as the entire ensemble delivered staggeringly confident and polished performances which sparkled with energy and belied a deep engagement with what is, after all, a complex work, with barely a slip in the entire two hours.

As for Shylock, Guy Woolf teases out his complexities, not reducing him simply to a vengeful wretch or a hapless victim. His “Hath not a Jew eyes?” monologue rendered the snickering Salarina and Salania, not to mention the audience, speechless. Interestingly, the production gives Shylock the last word. This is an opportune move, which deflects any accusations of indulging the play’s anti-Semitic message by asserting Shylock’s religious freedom and in so doing assuages some of the audience’s discomfort.  

What justifies giving this play a five star review is that it achieves what all good theatre should: it provokes thought beyond the script, but subtly and through its artistry, asserting emotive power without us realising it is doing so. The production’s extraordinary cast and gratifying attention to even the minutest of details, means that this week’s main show will be a hard act to follow.