Tracy-Ann Oberman's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Hires Security Due to Antisemitism

Security has had to be hired for a touring production of The Merchant of Venice due to fears of antisemitic attacks, Tracy-Ann Oberman has revealed.

Oberman, who is starring as Shylock in her adaptation of the play, said that it was “like a dystopian nightmare”.

Writing in The Spectator, Oberman's column is titled "Why do I need security guards so I can play Shylock?"

The show sets the drama in 1936 East London in the build up to the Battle of Cable Street, which saw anti-fascist protesters clash with police who were escorting a racist protest led by Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts.

Oberman writes: “We’re on a 10-week tour and I’ve been moved beyond words at the reactions of audiences and critics. Yet for the last week, the production has had to have security men around keeping an eye on things. It’s like a dystopian nightmare,”

“A Jewish actress putting on a play about antisemitism which needs to be made secure because of Jew-hating extremists. As one reviewer said: ‘Written in 1600, set in 1936, as relevant today in 2023.’ Ain’t that the truth.”

“Ever since Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, with the pogrom-like brutality towards babies, women and girls, including rape and burning alive, I have felt broken. On stage, when I say the lines ‘When you prick us do we not bleed? When you tickle us, do we not laugh? When you poison us do we not die?,’ I weep for all the innocent victims, and I know we must stand together against an evil that wants to rip us apart. And the audiences cry too,”.

The Merchant of Venice 1936 is currently on tour.

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner

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