Last weekend’s homecoming festivities were all about Willie the Wildcat, but this weekend another Will gets the spotlight – Shakespeare, that is.

Lovers and Madmen, Northwestern’s Shakespearean acting troupe, will present The Merchant of Venice from Oct. 18-20 in the Louis Room in Norris University Center.

Arguably Shakespeare’s most famous comedy, the play revolves around the title character Antonio, a Venetian merchant whose loyalty to his lovesick friend Bassanio lands him in trouble with the underhanded Shylock.

A major theme in the show is anti-Semitism, which is obvious in the scenes involving Shylock, the Jewish moneylender who engages Antonio in shady business dealings.

“The biggest challenge with this play was the issue of anti-Semitism and how it would be accepted by the audience,” says Communication senior Kathleen Arcovio, who plays Portia in the show. “[Director] Nicole [Keating] has done a fabulous job of dealing with that, addressing it in a manner that’s appropriate to today’s time.”

The anti-Semitism issue also pushed L&M to ultimately abandon the traditional approach to Merchant and set the play in pre-World War II Italy, circa 1922.

“The mood of the show is really reminiscent and reflective of the 1920’s,” assistant director Alex Sokolovsky says. “The show lends itself to that era, and it’s just kind of a natural shift.”

Communication senior Marco Minichiello, who plays Shylock, agrees.

“A lot of people in the professional world now want to try and find contemporary settings for Shakespeare’s shows because he resonates so loudly,” he says. “Setting the show before the rise of fascism and Mussolini is very relevant to when Shakespeare was writing it.”

Although the period shift may confuse some audience members, Minichiello insists that the new setting is for the best.

“There are traditionalists who feel like you should never mess with Shakespeare,” Minichiello says, “but this play still resonates so much that I think it’s our job to make it important and interesting in a collegiate community, and a more or less contemporary setting helps people connect to it.”

Neither dialogue nor dialect has been changed for the new setting, although certain interludes or transitions have been added “to give more suggestion of Venice at that time,” says Communication senior Tyler Stoltenberg, who plays Bassanio.

Another minor change is the gender switching of Shylock’s servant Launcelot who is male in the original text but female in this production.

Many of these twists on the original work can be owed to director Nicole Keating, a Communication senior, and producer Katie Martin, a Weinberg junior.

“Nicole has definitely done her homework,” Arcovio says. “She’s done a lot of period research, and definitely knows what she wants out of this incredible show that Shakespeare has written.”

Whether or not the average theatergoer has done his or her homework on Shakespeare, however, is a non-issue.

“It’s going to be a beautiful show, whether you know your Shakespeare or not.” Sokolovsky says. “The sets, the costumes, the lighting, the actors – it’s theatre, and a great representation of it.”

The Merchant of Venice shows Thursday, Oct. 18 (8 pm), Friday, Oct. 19 (8 pm & 11 pm) and Saturday, Oct. 20 (2 pm & 8 pm) in the Louis Room in Norris University Center. ?

Medill freshman Marc Snetiker is a PLAY writer. He can be reached at [email protected].