Not every Jewish role needs to be cast with Jewish actors, but for plays with anti-Semitic elements, strong Jewish representation is a must.
There is a long and problematic history of non-Jews playing Shylock in ways that reinforce Jewish stereotypes. John Gross, in his book Shylock, describes the red devil wigs traditional for the character until the early 19th century, the “non-human” interpretation of Junius Booth (father of John Wilkes Booth), and the notoriously vicious Shylock of Werner Krauss during the Nazi era, with “unsteady, cunning little eyes… greasy caftan…[and] clawlike gestures with the hands.” Nowadays, those types of grossly anti-Semitic caricatures are thankfully rare, and Thompson’s Shylock is a dignified man hard done by the world, but even the most respectful portrayal can’t escape the inherent lust for blood and money that Shakespeare wrote into the character. Frankly, I have questions about whether The Merchant of Venice should ever be performed, but if it is, tackling anti-Semitism should be at its core.
