“Merchant on Venice” ( Shakespeare goes “Bollywood”)

★★★★★For years, I have enjoyed watching the works of The Silk Road Rising Company and how they treat the South Asians in their productions. Often, they have been able to adapt classical works into more modern- day productions and making the move to somewhere in the Middle East. Back in 2007, they presented an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” called “The Merchant on Venice” written by  Shishir Kurup, and taking us into modern times and in sunny California. I remember enjoying the piece back on Washington and Clark and in many ways anticipated its return tonight at The Greenhouse Theater Center.

The show has been redone and changed and felt much longer than in its original form ( the running time is  almost  three hours with one intermission). That may have been a part of the problem for me. The story is about money-lending ( just as the original) but in this version he is not Shylock, The Jew, but rather Sharuk, the Muslim( played handsomely by Anish Jethmalani). He has lent a great deal of money to Devender (deftly  handled by Madrid St.Sngelo) a Hindu. With language that is modern-day, “west coast”, Kurup has re-imagined Shakespeare’s plot of the original to a story of modern times between Hindu and Muslim Americans, allowing the use of prejudice to be shown in a different manner.

The prize that is sought by Sharuk for the lack of re-payment is the “manhood” of Devender, and needless to say the court scene where it is all decided is one of great excitement. There are little stories as well contained within the walls of the major. Sharuk’s daughter runs away with a young man and becomes a rock-star causing him great dismay and we watch as our Bollywood Movie Star, Jitender ( Kamal Hans) becomes the husband of  Pushpa ( the lovely Suzan Fakhoury) in what appears to be a “game show” like the dating game.

While Liz Carlin Metz did a great job of directing and keeping the action moving ( if not, this could have been three and a half hours), there were far too many movies and songs mentioned for laughs. In fact, this was a bit too “Bollywood” for me, and I love “Bollywood Films”. I thought the actors were strong and were only limited by the material that was given to them by the playwright. Hats off to Sunny Anam, Simi Bal, Anand Bhatt, Luisa Blanca, David Fink, Dennis Garcia, Muriaza Kapasi, Ben Veatch, Priyank Thakkar, Alka Nayyar and Siddarth Rajan. Great work!

The set design (Craig Choma) is fairly simple and  allows for quick changes, keeping the flow of the play. The lighting (Erik Barry) and sound (Gregor Mortis) are near perfect. Not once did I have a problem hearing the actors, which is wonderful in a smaller theater. The costumes ( Rachel Sypniewski and Tracee Bear) are wonderful and the special work of  Alka Nayyar (who handled choreography, dialect coaching and served as Dramaturg) very special.

This play is a joint production by Raska Theatre Company, Chicago’s ONLY South Asian theater ensemble and Vitalist Theatre Company. “Merchant on Venice” will continue at The Greenhouse Theater Center , located at 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue – Mainstage UPSTAIRS thru April 15th with performances as follows:

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  2:30 p.m. and  7:30 p.m.

Sundays  2:30p.m.

Tickets are General Admission  $25

Students and Seniors $20 and can be purchased at the box office, by calling  773-404-7336 or online at  www.greenhousetheater.org

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Merchant on Venice”