Rented Space Theatre Co. Presents Modern Rewrite of Shakespeare, MERCHANT OF VEMBLEY

Rented Space Theatre Company presents the UK premiere of MERCHANT OF VEMBLEY by Shishir Kurup, 6TH - 25TH OCTOBER. Post show talks every Wednesday. Tickets: £17.50 /£13.50

A mordant and modern re-write of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice transported to the South Asian community of contemporary London.

"He hates me for precisely what I am

A rival businessman not of his faith

I'll be damned for sure if I forgive that"

In the ethnically diverse suburbs of North West London where, instead of Christians and Jews, Hindus and Muslims are grappling for power and revealing their prejudices, this wickedly funny and inventive iambic pentameter re-write of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice fuses music, blank verse, video and pop-references. The play explores forbidden love in multi-cultural societies and how majority groups marginalise the minority - issues that have existed from time immemorial, and are even more relevant and pertinent in today's political climate.

The production debuted to critical acclaim as Merchant on Venice in Chicago and was set in Venice Beach, LA - 'A bracing, ingenious pop-cult revamp.' Time Out Chicago; 'A big, new, risky, rumbunctious show' Chicago Tribune. It wove post 9/11 paranoia and Islamophobia into a tapestry of South Asian themes. Now relocated to a London inured to the daily news' obsession with "Terror", it retains the colour, language and context of the original along with its plea for tolerance and transformation. No punches are pulled and with no bows to political correctness, Kurup's effervescent script fizzes and crackles on the stage - leaving little mercy but delivering plenty of dark belly-laughs.

Fallen Bollywood star Jeetendra comes to London to try his luck with Pushpa, a young Gujarati heiress. In a bid to win her heart (and her late film-director father's vast fortune - enough to bankroll his return to the silver screen), Jeetendra uses his best friend, Devendra as a conduit to borrow money from Muslim money-lender, Sharuk. When Devender defaults, Sharuk claims a dangling ounce of flesh, a penalty that is just too much to bear. In a suitably Bolly-Shakespearean side plot involving arranged marriage, Pushpa must hope Jeetendra chooses correctly from answers to a film-inspired test willed by her father on his deathbed.

"I read the play a few years ago and was immediately bowled over by its ambition, wit and topicality as well as preparedness to deal with some pretty tough issues about the inter-personal relationships and prejudices within the South Asian community. Our last transposition of Shakespeare into India with Cymbeline was a huge hit and I'm very excited about doing the same for Merchant." Director, Ajay Chowdhury

"I always had a love hate relationship with Merchant of Venice. It is one of Shakespeare's really flawed yet really beautiful plays yet within the darkness it offers up an interesting look at humanity. I wanted to deconstruct it and bring it into the modern era, so I pulled out all the language, kept the story line and then used the events - to tell story from modern and very particular point of view." Writer Shishir Kurup,

The play has been funded by Arts Council England.

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