The Merchant of Venice

An updated version of The Merchant of Venice that speaks to our contemporary reckoning with racism and injustice. Elise Thorons translation of Shakespeares searing The Merchant of Venice cuts straight to the heart of todays fraught issues of social justice and systemic racism. Thorons 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 Shakespeares 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 Festivals 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 Shakespeares verse. These volumes make these works available for the first time in printa new First Folio for a new era.