This article is about the 1794 play. For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation).
The Jew
Written by
Richard Cumberland
Date premiered
8 May 1794
Place premiered
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Original language
English
Genre
Comedy
Setting
London, present day
The Jew is a comedy written by playwright Richard Cumberland and first presented at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 8 May 1794. The play is notable as the first play in the English theatre to portray a Jewish moneylender as the hero of a stage production.
The anti-Jewish tradition on the English stage dates back at least to the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290 and is exemplified by the characters of Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Barabas in Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. In a series of articles called Observer, first published in 1785, Cumberland created a character named Abraham Abrahams who would later serve as a template for Sheva, the title character in The Jew. In one instalment of Observer, Abrahams 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."[1] A decade later, in writing The Jew, Cumberland sought to create a positive image of a Jewish man that would counteract centuries of anti-Semitic portraits. The tremendous success of the initial production prompted Cumberland to later write, "The benevolence of the audience assisted me in rescuing a forlorn and persecuted character, which till then had only been brought upon the stage for the unmanly purpose of being made a spectacle of contempt, and a butt for ridicule. In the success of this comedy I felt of course a greater gratification, than I had ever felt upon a like occasion."[2]
The original London cast included James Aickin as Sir Stephan Bertram, John Palmer as Frederic, Richard Wroughton as Charles Ratcliffe, Walter Maddocks as Saunders, John Bannister as Sheva, Richard Suett as Jabal, Elizabeth Hopkins as Mrs Ratcliffe, Elizabeth Farren as Louisa Ratcliffe, Ursula Booth as Mrs Goodison, Charlotte Tidswell as Dorcas. Shortly after its London premiere, the play began to be performed in the United States, first in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City and, later, in Richmond, Charleston, and many other cities and towns. The play was also translated into numerous languages including German, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian. The last known New York production under its original title was presented at the Bronx Free Synagogue in 1919.
^Newman, Louis I. (2012). Richard Cumberland: Critic and Friend of the Jews (Classic Reprint). Forgotten Books.
^Cumberland, Richard (1807). Memoirs of Richard Cumberland. New York: B. Blom.
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