HEADING TO LOWRY IN 2025: JOSEPH MILLSON JOINS TRACY-ANN OBERMAN IN THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 1936
Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Eilene Davidson Productions and Alan Howard, in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, present the Watford Palace Theatre & HOME Manchester production.
Tracy-Ann Oberman (EastEnders, Doctor Who, Friday Night Dinner) is joined by acclaimed actor Joseph Millson (The Last Kingdom, The Forsyte Saga, RSC Associate Artist) in the critically acclaimed production of The Merchant of Venice 1936, for its strictly limited West End season (28 Dec ‘24 – 25 Jan ‘25) and subsequent UK tour in 2025, including Lowry, Salford from 25 February - 1 March 2025.
Back by popular demand following a sold-out run at the Criterion Theatre earlier this year, Shakespeare’s enduring classic is transported to 1930s East London against a backdrop of political unrest and the Battle of Cable Street.
Millson, whose credits include Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, Marvel’s Moon Knight, and his critically acclaimed performance as Soames in The Forsyte Saga, plays Antonio alongside Tracy-Ann’s Shylock. This smash hit production also welcomes Georgie Fellows as Portia, Evie Hargreaves as Mary / Nerissa, Mikhail Sen as Lorenzo / Maharajah and Elly Roberts as Stefania / Blackshirt. Reprising their roles are Gavin Fowler as Bassanio, Grainne Dromgoole as Jessica, Xavier Starr as Gratiano, and Alex Zur as Yuval / The Duke / Blackshirt.
Tracy-Ann Oberman said: “Having Joe join the cast of MOV36 as the merchant Antonio is the dream. He’s such a wonderful actor with a great Shakespearean pedigree and I’ve always admired his work. He’s not only a great friend but also an actor who I love being on stage with and I cannot wait to see what happens when my Shylock meets his Antonio in the East End of London, 1936.”
After the West End season, this groundbreaking production will embark on a second UK tour for eight weeks visiting: Liverpool, Bath, Leeds, Salford, Fareham, Cardiff, Southend and culminating in Birmingham on 5 April 2025 - allowing audiences all over the UK the opportunity to experience this “deeply relevant” (Daily Telegraph) play.
Ambition, power and political unrest explode onto the stage in this “striking and impactful” (The Guardian) production that “makes theatre history” (Daily Telegraph). This “fascinating and timely” (Daily Mail) production is adapted by Brigid Larmour and Tracy-Ann Oberman.
With the city on the brink of political unrest, fascism sweeping across Europe and Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists threatening a paramilitary march through the Jewish East End, strong-willed single mother Shylock runs a pawnbroking business from her house in Cable Street where Mosley will march. When charismatic, antisemitic aristocrat Antonio comes to her for a loan, a high-stakes deal is struck. Will Shylock take her revenge, and who will pay the ultimate price?
★★★★ “Striking” The Guardian
★★★★ “Galvanising” Financial Times
★★★★ “Magnetic” The Stage
★★★★★ “An astonishing, full-blooded performance. For anyone who wonders how to produce Shakespeare in the 21st Century, this really is it” METRO
The Merchant of Venice 1936 will open at Lowry, Salford from 25 February - 1 March 2025. For more information and tickets visit www.thelowry.com.