Merchant on Venice

In a wildly inventive re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Shishir Kurup’s Merchant on Venice intersects Venice, Italy with the Indian Diaspora of Venice Beach, California. Written in iambic pentameter and vividly colored by Indian, American and Latino pop references, Kurup’s adaptation transforms Shakespeare’s original by injecting the story with Bollywood musical numbers, L.A. Punk, and a distinctly American landscape.