About
the Play:
Shylock is a full-length drama by Mark Leiren-Young.
A Jewish actor playing Shakespeare's notorious money-lender as a
villain attracts unwelcome protests and controversy at a Festival
Theatre. The contentious production has just been shut down and the
actor holds a talk-back session to defend his work. Packed with ideas
of censorship, history, representation, and the nature of art –
it's a testament to the power of The Bard.
Shylock focuses on a Jewish actor named Jon Davies, who is
featured as Shylock in a production of Shakespeare's The
Merchant of Venice. Jon addresses his audience at a "talk
back" session, after the play is closed abruptly due to
controversy over the play's alleged antisemitism. Davies is portrayed
both in and out of character, presenting and stripping down the
layers between character and actor. This award-winning one-man drama
has provided much fuel for the fiery debates surrounding censorship,
historical revisionism, political correctness and the thorny
discussion of whether certain plays are suitable for contemporary
productions – Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
amongst them.
Shylock was first produced in 1996 by Bard on the Beach in
Vancouver, directed by John Juliani and starring popular Canadian radio host, David Berner. Its American debut was in 1998 at Philadelphia's Walnut
Street Theatre. Since then
the play, which is aimed at Grade 10 and up, has
been produced widely
at professional theatres, Shakespeare Festivals, Teen Festivals, and Fringe Festivals
throughout Canada and the US.
Cast: 1 male
What people say:
"Mark Leiren-Young's
play is very strong and an important contribution to the vexed and
vexing question of the alleged anti-Semitism of The Merchant of
Venice." — Patrick Stewart, Actor
"Both entertaining and
provocative. A perfect companion piece to The Merchant of Venice in
any college or high school discussion of Shakespeare's controversial
play." — Norman Berlin, Professor of English,
University of Massachusetts
"An effective piece of
writing. So much so that cleaning staff had to literally push-broom
patron's from the lobby after the show ended. The response was that
lively." — The National Post
"A passionate plea for reason,
for literature, and for art. Shylock will be a
hit because people are hungry for articulate, passionate arguments
for intellectual sanity in a rapidly collapsing intellectual world.
Hooray for Mark Leiren-Young." — Culture
Shock
"Shylock is an
amazing play and what's amazing about it is that it touches so many
important issues in our society about stereotypes and artistic
integrity that are especially resonant for non-profit theatres. It is
also extraordinarily funny." — Bernard Harvard,
Artistic Director, Walnut Street Theatre
"The play is a wondrous
diatribe about art, the responsibilities of the artist, and about
whether theatre exists to make people comfortable." — The
Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
About the Playwright:
Mark Leiren-Young is a Canadian author, screenwriter,
playwright, satirist, performer, and environmentalist. After
graduating receiving his BFA in Creative Writing and Theatre at the
University of Victoria, he was hired as a reporter at the venerable
Williams Lake Tribune (a stint that inspired his first book,
Never Shoot a Stampede Queen). Since then he has been a
full-time freelance writer working in a variety of mediums and
genres. His plays have been produced throughout Canada and the US as
well as in Europe and Australia. He has written over a hundred hours
of television for shows including adult dramas like Psi Factor
and The Collector.