An updated version of The Merchant of Venice that speaks to our contemporary reckoning with racism and injustice.
Elise Thoronesquo;s translation of Shakespeareosquo;s searing The Merchant of Venice cuts straight to the heart of todayrsquo;s fraught issues of social justice and systemic racism. Thoronnsquo;s clear, compelling contemporary verse translation retains the power of the original iambic pentameter while allowing readers and audiences to fully comprehend and directly experience the brutal dilemmas of Shakespearetsquo;s Venice, where prejudice and privilege reign unchallenged. As the author of three acclaimed music-theater works on the Jewish experience and informed by her work directing cross-cultural projects in locations as different as Russia, Japan, Cuba, and New York City, Thoron brings to her Merchant an immediacy that speaks directly to the present reckoning with race in America.
This translation was written as part of the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalTsquo;s Play On! project, which commissioned new translations of thirty-nine Shakespeare plays. These translations present the work of "The Bard" in language accessible to modern audiences while never losing the beauty of Shakespearetsquo;s verse. These volumes make these works available for the first time in print dash;a new First Folio for a new era.
