MERCHANT | by Elena Yeo, 3rd Culture Theatre

What truly drives human conflict? Race, religion, politics or perhaps, even love? This is the central question behind MERCHANT, a powerful re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice by 3rd Culture Theatre.

In this provocative re-imagining, 3^rd Culture Theatre is relocating the play to Shanghai 1890, using the opium trade between China and Britain as the historical backdrop. Antonio is a British opium merchant, representative of the many who made their fortunes from the illicit trade and Shylock is a Chinese pawnbroker.

The heart of the play is an examination of the similarities between the relationship of the Jews and Gentiles in the play, and the current situation with China and the west.

The Jews/Gentiles and Chinese/westerns have a very complex relationship, one that is distrustful, competitive, and occasionally outright hostile.  Yet they are bound together because of financial interdependence.

Ultimately, MERCHANT seeks to cast a fresh and provocative light on the conflict between the play’s central characters of Antonio and Shylock, using it as a prism to identify and examine the many issues that fuel our prejudices.

MERCHANT has been in development since 2013 when the Royal Shakespeare Company chose the project for its Studio programme.

Elena Yeo, Artistic Producer
Elena has worked for the last ten years as an actor, producer and stage manager in London, Shanghai and Singapore. As a producer, Elena launched the inaugural Short + Sweet Theatre Festival in Singapore 2007. It consisted of 40 ten-minute plays staged over three weeks, and featured some of Singapore’s top actors, directors and playwrights. Other production and stage credits include Agamemnon (Berkoff), Love’s Labours Lost (Shakespeare), King Lear (Shakespeare), The Master Builder (Ibsen), Art (Reza), I Am My Own Wife (Wright), Drift (Yu) and Caucasian Chalk Circle (Brecht).

Elena founded 3rd Culture Theatre in 2011 when she was based in Shanghai. Its mission is to stage emotionally engaging, intellectually provocative and intensely creative performances that inspire a love for theatre.

Elena holds two Masters degrees in Performance Making from Goldsmiths College, London and Curating & Cultural Leadership from UNSW Art & Design, Sydney.

Nicole Stinton, Director
Nicole has worked in the performing arts industry for over two decades across Australia and Asia, specialising in Musical Theatre and other forms of stylised theatre. Her extensive experience is not only as a professional director, playwright and actor, but also as a teacher, manager and vocal coach. Nicole has taught in the West Australian arts education system, including spending several years managing the Performing Arts department of a college.  She’s lectured in musical theatre, acting, voice and management at a tertiary level and has published several textbooks on Drama, which are widely used in Western Australia. She holds an MBA in Arts and Entertainment Management, a Graduate Diploma of Education, a Bachelor in Theatre, and a Bachelor in Musical Theatre from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).  She is currently working towards a PhD in Acting at WAAPA.