The Merchant of Vembley

T01283050066
Venice intersects with Wembley in a wickedly funny, inventive, provocative reimagining of Merchant of Venice. In Shishir Kurup's Merchant of Wembley - Venice intersects with Wembley's Ealing Road in a wickedly funny, wildly inventive and politically provocative re-imagining of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Set in Wembley, London in the here and now. A tragi-comic, raucous, dark and irreverent work based on Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice offering a bitingly South Asian perspective. Set in Wembley, London, where hatred and intolerance among Hindus and Muslims have grown to a boiling point. Using music, blank verse and present-day pop references, the play explores how the preponderance of power in one sector of a community can marginalize a minority and provoke reactionary and retributive responses. Jitendra, a Hindu actor, has fled Bollywood stardom to seek fame and fortune in Hollywood. To secure backing for his "India-Indie flick with crossover appeal" he schemes to marry a rich young heiress, Pushpa Shah, and in the process endangers the life of his best friend, Devendra, by becoming entangled with Devendra's nemesis, Sharuk, a Muslim money-lender. Pushpa, is in love with Jitendra, but as per her father's will, must marry only a man who can pass a multi-media test.

Author

Shishir Kurup

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Archive :: production:T01283050066, play:S01102070399, venue:V182

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Production details

UK Premiere. Written in an iambic pentameter replete with Indian, American and Afro-Caribbean jargon