Playing Shylock at Segal Centre for Performing Arts

PLAYING SHYLOCK

Some roles are bigger than the stage.

Canadian screen legend Saul Rubinek (Unforgiven, Frasier, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) returns to the stage with Playing Shylock—a fierce, funny, and deeply human new work that explores the fault lines between art, identity, and accountability.

When a production of The Merchant of Venice is cancelled mid-performance following public outcry, the actor playing Shylock refuses to exit quietly. Instead, he steps forward, breaking character to deliver a bold, impassioned monologue that blends razor-sharp humour with urgent questions about culture, history, and who gets to tell the story.

With wit and gravitas honed over four decades in film, television, and theatre, Rubinek commands the stage in a tour-de-force performance that’s as timely as it is timeless.