October 5, 2007
By Jonathan Abarbanel
My pick is Merchant on Venice, the vibrant world premiere at the Silk Road Theatre Project. Playwright Shishir Kurup uses Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, as his template to tell a story of ethnic hatred, not between Christians and Jews, but between South Asian Hindus and Muslims, and he sets the tale in contemporary Venice, California, with its thriving South Asian population.
The irony of Shylock being a Muslim in this case, rather than a Jew, is an added layer in Kurup's rich, rhymed text that's clever and funny and pointed and heartfelt and filled with wonderful multicultural references appropriate to their Southern California melting pot. You add in some colorful dance sequences and an energetic, first-rate mulit-ethnic cast and you have a very special show. My pick is Merchant on Venice at the Silk Road Theatre Project, which is in the Loop, through November 4th.