THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Chris Abraham
Venue: Tom Patterson Theatre
May 8 – October 30 | Opens June 1
When Antonio signs a risky bond with Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, to help a friend pursue a wealthy heiress, a seemingly simple transaction sets in motion events that test the limits of justice, mercy and human compassion. At the heart of the story is Shylock, one of Shakespeare's most contested characters, subjected to anti-Jewish prejudice, capable of cruelty himself, and written with a humanity and complexity that have challenged actors and audiences for centuries.
Acclaimed stage and screen actor Saul Rubinek takes on the role in a production directed by Chris Abraham, known for his insightful interpretations of classic texts and his ability to illuminate their contemporary resonance. The production is presented alongside two companion works, Playing Shylock and All in the Telling, which extend the conversation around Shylock, Jewish identity, representation and memory.
Three Plays in Conversation
From Shakespeare's Shylock to Saul Rubinek's family story, three productions explore Jewish identity, memory and representation
Shylock occupies an uneasy place in the theatrical canon.
He was a product of the cultural imagination of the time, imagined by Shakespeare more than 300 years after the expulsion of Jews from England and roughly 60 years before their formal readmission.
Although Shakespeare had almost certainly never met a Jew, he nevertheless created a character who has sparked debate for hundreds of years and remains a flashpoint for questions of antisemitism, identity, memory and representation.
In the 2027 season, we are presenting The Merchant of Venice alongside Playing Shylock and All in the Telling, a three-play exploration of how Jewish identity has been imagined, contested and lived across generations.
The idea to present this triptych of plays comes from Saul Rubinek, one of Canada's great actors who began his career at the Stratford Festival in the 1960s. Following the highly successful Toronto and Off-Broadway runs of Playing Shylock, Rubinek became passionately interested in having the one-person show play alongside Merchant.
The addition of Rubinek's new play, All in the Telling, creates a still more compelling arc for the grouping: from a Jewish character imagined from outside Jewish experience, to a contemporary Jewish actor confronting that portrayal, to a Jewish playwright drawing upon his own family's history.
In The Merchant of Venice, Rubinek takes on a character who has inspired discomfort, argument and reinterpretation across four centuries. The play asks audiences to grapple not only with Shylock himself, but with the society that shapes him and the shocking fate that ultimately befalls him.
Playing Shylock brings the discussion into the present. Rubinek portrays an actor who learns that his production of The Merchant of Venice has been cancelled and responds with a searching, deeply personal and often funny examination of Shylock, antisemitism, artistic freedom and the responsibilities that come with telling difficult stories.
All in the Telling moves to lived experience. Drawing on Rubinek's experience as the son of Holocaust survivors in Poland, it explores family memory, inherited trauma, intergenerational conflict and the way Jewish identity is preserved, reshaped and carried forward.
Together, the plays explore not only how Jewish identity is portrayed or remembered, but how it endures.
This season's schedule has been carefully constructed to allow as many opportunities as possible for the plays to be seen together, including pairings of The Merchant of Venice and Playing Shylock, and one remarkable opportunity to see all three plays in one day.