Triggered by Shylock’s role, Invictus Theatre gives us a strong production of The Merchant of Venice. One of Shakespeare’s most accessible plays, The Merchant is seasoned with timeless lines: “Love is blind”, “Let me play the fool,” “The quality of mercy is not strained,” “the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”

And its well-crafted subplots include the famous trio of suitors seeking the key to marry the princess Portia (Julia Badger), by choosing blindly among three boxes - with only the barest of hints to guide them. The Merchant of Venice also features Shakespeare’s only explicitly Jewish character, Shylock (Joseph Beal) – a moneylender who, along with his Jewish companion, Tubal (Joshua Seeger), is reviled by the citizens of Venice. In this production, we are transported to Mussolini’s Italy in 1938 – a time when Hitler’s Nuremburg laws against Jews were promulgated.

Though updating the period of Shakespeare’s plays is almost commonplace, as though the scripts are in need of a facelift, Invictus heightens the impact of the singularly disturbing Jew-baiting structured into Shakespeare’s action and dialog. The opening scene features menacing uniformed Blackshirt fascista in jackboots and jodhpurs, and soon enough the merchant Antonio (Chuck Monro) spits in the face of Shylock (Joseph Beal). Mussolini’s face is plastered in posters all around, and his thundering speeches play before the curtain rises. The costumes by Sato Schechner are elegant and on trend.

What Shakespeare had in mind with Shylock is open to question; Jews had been driven from and banned by England for centuries. Invictus dramaturg Michael Shapiro notes the play was likely produced in response to a plot to kill Queen Elizabeth – for which her Jewish-Spanish physician was executed. The Bard may also have been drawn to the outsider nature of Shylock, who like Othello or Hamlet, suffers for his “otherness.”

Christians in Venice were prohibited by the Church from making loans, so Jews made them. Shylock laments his lack of stature among the merchant class, despite the essential service he offers.

In the play, the young merchant Bassanio (Martin Diaz-Valdes) needs funding for ships in a trading expedition. Shylock sets up a bullet-proof contract with default requiring payment in the famous “pound of flesh.” Bassanio also needs the wealth to buttress pursuit of Portia as his bride. As the plot turns, the ships founder in storms, and the loan is called. Shylock engenders our sympathy as he expounds eloquently on the abuse he suffers from the trading class.

When Bassanio’s associate Salarino (Mitchell Spencer) suggests the terms are too harsh to enforce, Shylock asserts his case compellingly in the marketplace:

He hath disgraced me, and….what's his reason? I am a Jew….

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? …If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

In this Merchant of Venice, the language of Shakespeare is handled effectively, with Chuck Monro as Antonio, Martin Diaz-Valdes as Bassanio and Madeline Pell as Nerissa delivering compelling performances.  Monro also brings a depth of emotion to his part.

In the role of Shylock, Joseph Beal uses a kind of Ashkenaz accent (a Western European “Jewish” accent if I have it right) which atop the Elizabethan English is quite a feat. But it seemed to me the Ashkenaz was slathered on a bit heavily, which at times diminished the power of the underlying script. Still you cannot not miss the power of his Shylock performance, a testament to Beal’s strength. A nod to a very special performer is in order: Jack Morsovillo played Launcelot, the Jailer, and the suitor, the Prince of Arragon, effortlessly switching roles, between stints playing incidental guitar music. Well done!

Recommended, The Merchant of Venice runs through November 17 at the Pride Arts Center, 4147 N. Broadway in Chicago.