Shakespeare's classic play the Merchant of Venice will be staged in Hindi as 'Venice Ka Saudagar' by the students of Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (MPSD).
The play will be performed as a tribute to William Shakespeare. It will be performed under two-day theatre fest. It will be held on Thursday and Friday at Ravindra Bhavan auditorium.
It is to be noted that a month long workshop was organised at MPSD wherein they rehearsed the play. The final rehearsal of the play took place on Wednesday at MPSD.
The Merchant of Venice is a 16th century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice named Antonio must default on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered.
Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of mercy". Critic Harold Bloom listed it among Shakespeare's great comedies.
Antonio, an antisemitic merchant, takes a loan from the Jew Shylock to help his friend to court Portia. Antonio can't repay the loan, and without mercy, Shylock demands a pound of his flesh. The heiress Portia, now the wife of Antonio's friend, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio.