The Merchant of Venice eyes?" speech to Nazi soldiers. The rock musical "Fire Angel" was based on the story of the play, with the scene changed to the Little Italy district of New York. It was performed in Edinburgh in 1974 and in a revised form at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in 1977. Braham Murray directed. Arnold Wesker's play "The Merchant" (1976) is a reimagening of Shakespeare's story. In this retelling, Shylock and Antonio are friends and share a disdain for the crass anti-Semitism of the Christian community's laws. David Henry Wilson's play "Shylock's Revenge", was first produced at the University of Hamburg in
The Merchant of Venice Richard Cumberland created a character named Abraham Abrahams, who is quoted as saying, "I verily believe the odious character of Shylock has brought little less persecution upon us, poor scattered sons of Abraham, than the Inquisition itself." Cumberland later wrote a successful play, "The Jew" (1794), in which his title character, Sheva, is portrayed sympathetically, as both a kindhearted and generous man. This was the first known attempt by a dramatist to reverse the negative stereotype that Shylock personified. The depiction of Jews in literature throughout the centuries bears the close imprint of Shylock. With slight variations much of English