New Jersey Stage 2017: Issue 5 | Page 81

On Stage: Theatre The Merchant of Venice The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison A money-obsessed, patriar- chal, dysfunctional society where wealth bestows power; one in which women cannot determine their own fate, and one marked by religious and racial prejudice. Sound familiar? Shakespeare’s dark comedy could not be more resonant for our time. A play that NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 5 offers no true villains or heroes, his Venice presents a culture as complex and troubling as our own, where the situations and questions posed ask us to ex- amine the “quality of mercy” in myriad ways. The Shakespeare Theatre pres- ents this May 17 to June 4. INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 81