Until Sunday October 25, Merchant of Vembley, a bold re-telling of a Shakespearean classic, is coming to The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone.
Instead of Christians and Jews, here Hindus and Muslims grapple for power and struggle with prejudices in the west London suburbs of Wembley.
The darkly comic play explores forbidden love in multi-cultural societies and the marginalisation of minorities.
The re-telling of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is written fully in iambic pentameter and fuses music, blank verse, video and pop-references.
The play's cast is headed by Emilio Doorgasingh, Aria Prasad, Ishwar Maharaj and local actor Vijay Doshi, who lives in and has grown up in the Wembley and Harrow area.
Writer Shishir Kurup said: "I always had a love-hate relationship with Merchant of Venice. It is one of Shakespeare's really flawed yet really beautiful plays, yet within the darkness it offers up an interesting look at humanity.
"I wanted to deconstruct it and bring it into the modern era, so I pulled out all the language, kept the storyline and then used the events to tell story from a modern and very particular point of view."
One visitor to the play said: "... Really good re-imagining of the original Venetian tale, transposed to the subcontinental Wembley-desh community in London. Bonus: there is a branch of the Lahore Kebab House right across the road..."
And as an added bonus, Shakespeare's original Merchant of Venice is on the curriculum this year for some GCSE English students. Book your tickets while you can and learn the fun way!
Tickets cost £17.50 for adults and £13.50 for concessions.
The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, Marylebone, NW8 8EH - 020 7258 2925
