25th Play - District Merchants (An Uneasy Comedy) by Aaron Posner
Chris Butler, Helen Sage Howard Simpson and Kristy Johnson in South Coast Repertory’s 2016 production of “District Merchants” by Aaron Posner. (Debora Robinson / South Coast Repertory)
I know I already read LOVE SUCKS this summer, but I couldn’t resist another Aaron Posner adaptation … Also, shoutout to Kristy Johnson, a fabulous former student of mine in the photo above!!!
Summary: “Love, loss, litigation, and predatory lending are examined in surprising ways in this uneasy comedy, which wades fearlessly into the endless complexities and contradictions of life in America. Set among the Black and Jewish populations of an imagined time and place that is simultaneously Shakespearean, Reconstruction-era Washington, D.C., and today, District Merchants is a remarkable tale of money, merchandise, and mercy brought to the stage by award-winning playwright and director Aaron Posner.” From Dramatists’ Play Service.
Laura’s thoughts in brief: I just can’t resist an Aaron Posner adaptation. They’re not perfect, and I have minor issues with them all, but … I also find them delightful, charming, metatheatrical and FUN. They also poke deeply, and this one, based on Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, packs some big “pokes” - well, they really are punches, I guess. This one tackles anti-semitism (of course), but in addition racism, misogyny and also capitalism, at least in my opinion. I would never have thought of transferring 16th century Venice to Reconstruction Washington, DC, but have to admit that I felt it worked well (some reviewers disagree). At the top, the characters Antoine, the Black merchant and Shylock, the Jewish one, feed the Prologue to us one line at a time in turns, introducing the story. Setting the play during the Reconstruction after the Civil War gives us an interesting way to see these two marginalized (then and now, sigh) populations profiting from this budding economic climate. They occasionally have worked together, although are still dealing with mutual distrust. Posner’s parallels here illustrate both differences and similarities between the two. When asked to define the Yiddish term mishigas, Shylock responds, “The word is a… a long-suffering shrug of a word. A Jew might just say ‘euchh, such mishigas’ instead of… oh, ‘euchh, such rampant cruelty by destructive, small-minded imbeciles who fear what they do not understand and for whom we are an easy target for hatred and ridicule.’“ Antoine takes a beat and responds, “Yeah, we got a word for that, too.” The one other very important thing they DO have in common is that they are both men. Which, as we know, gives them a lot more abilities in this time than all of the women, including the privileged ones. Speaking of whom … we move on to discover that Portia is dressing as a man to study law at Harvard - the only way she can do it. Portia, in this play, although we do get a bit of the “quality of mercy” speech, is written to be a little more complicated than in Shakespeare’s play. Although wooed by and attracted to the mixed-race Bassanio, she thinks that he’s white, and even goes so far as to have a whole conversation with her Black servant Nessa about why she doesn’t want to date another one of her suitors: “I don’t know, Nessa. He’s just so … black.” To his credit, Posner has Nessa respond, “Ouch,” and shortly after gives her a great monologue to the audience that starts, “Do you think it’s possible to love and hate someone so much at the exact same time?” Posner does not pull his punches, and it’s extremely uncomfortably funny - a trick Posner does extraordinarily well. Right after Nessa’s monologue, Portia gets a shorter one where she admits she doesn’t blame Nessa for hating her, “but sometimes I just wish she’d cut me just the tiniest bit of slack.” Another very funny and even more awkard and uncomfortable laugh for the white folx like me in the audience. But valuable! Anyway, the Bassanio passing as white plot felt a little weird to me, but it does force Portia to face up to her racism. That was my only real issue with the play. Otherwise, I thought it was a great, fast read and I would LOVE to see it on stage!!
READ MORE! Here’s what others had to say about productions:
https://dctheatrescene.com/2016/06/12/district-merchants-folger-theatre-review/