Sydney actors halt performances of controversial play after Bondi massacre

A Sydney production of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice has been postponed and tickets refunded because actors were reluctant to stage the play featuring antisemitic themes one month after the Bondi terror attack.

Community theatre group Such Stuff was on Thursday set to open its Petersham production of the controversial play, which features a Christian merchant who borrows money from Jewish lender Shylock. Performances in Mona Vale, Manly and Scotland Island were also scheduled over the next few weeks, but have been delayed until August.

Director Paul Kininmonth said he wanted to continue with the January performances after returning to rehearsals following a Christmas break. However, the call to halt the production was made after three actors expressed concerns about proceeding so soon after the Bondi massacre which targeted the Jewish community at a Hanukkah event. Fifteen people were killed and dozens more injured.

In a note announcing the postponement on January 3, Kininmonth said the decision came “in light of recent events within our community, and with the wellbeing of our artists and audiences foremost in mind”.

“This pause allows space for healing after the Bondi tragedy and ensures we can return to the work with the care, focus and integrity it deserves,” he wrote.

Kininmonth had also been liaising with a Jewish cultural consultant about the production since September, who advised him against staging the play in January.

“Lots of Jewish people have uneasy feelings about the play, and after Bondi they were hyper-vigilant about Shylock throwing fuel on the fire, so Bondi really destabilised our production and a number of actors in the group,” Kininmonth said.

“Professionally it can become an issue for an actor if they get a bad rap on social media – one actor was conscious of career implications, and a couple were really hammered by the stress of it all.”

Ebony Halliday, who plays Nerissa, was among the cast favouring a postponement to give a “cooling-off period” after the terror attack.

“It was a very traumatic and intense thing to have happened, and I wanted to make sure if it went forward it was handled nicely,” Halliday said.

“In the end it was a personal choice. I wasn’t comfortable, I wanted to pull back. Paul made the decision. ‘Not right now’ was the feedback.”

Shylock regularly faces antisemitic abuse in The Merchant of Venice, including by merchant Antonio, who agrees to help friend Bassanio woo Portia of Belmont with a sum of money borrowed from Shylock. The Jewish lender loans the money interest-free with the bond set at a pound of Antonio’s flesh. The play is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598.

Such Stuff’s version of the play will be set in Sydney’s lower north shore in the present day, and to music by Bob Dylan, and had promised to offer a depiction that “fosters empathy across divides and contributes to a broader conversation about our shared co-existence, much as Shakespeare originally intended”.

The Merchant of Venice is the Sydney-based theatre group’s 10th production since its inception in 2019, and will follow King Lear, staged last year, and Othello in 2023. Plays have been performed in nature reserves and indoor recreational spaces and mesh contemporary music and commentary with themes from the Elizabethan era.

Debate about whether the play is antisemitic, a critique of antisemitism or a combination of several factors has been ongoing since The Merchant of Venice was first performed.

University of Sydney Professor Catharine Lumby, who studies digital and online cultures, praised the sensitivity displayed by the theatre group, saying the postponement would offer the actors time to recontextualise their roles following the Bondi attack.

“Shylock provides an opportunity for people to understand antisemitism is an ancient hatred – it’s something that Jewish people have lived with for millennia,” Lumby said.

“On the other hand, the argument is its probably good to give the actor and actors time to reflect on how they’re going to present character … I think we need to listen to the Jewish community, draw a deep breath and recognise the impact of the massacre at Bondi.”

Damien Ryan, the artistic director of the Sport For Jove Theatre, said The Merchant of Venice stoked “very significant feelings” among audiences.

“It leaves every generation to rewrite onto it, like a dark mirror we hold against our own behaviour,” said Ryan, who has performed in or directed more than 70 Shakespeare productions. He last staged The Merchant of Venice in 2019.

“I can completely understand why Paul and the team at Such Stuff [postponed], as far as the play and the trauma going on, it’s a very significant thing to put on.”

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