https://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr:443/shakespeare/index.php?id=865 One of the most notorious productions in the history of Shakespeare on the German‑speaking stage is The Merchant of Venice at Vienna’s Burgtheater in 1943. This production has become iconic in a negative sense as the most glaring example of how Shakespeare can be misused for insidious propaganda purposes. Whenever debates erupted in the post‑war era over whether The Merchant should be performed on a German‑speaking stage once again or not, those against invariably cited the 1943 production to bolster their arguments. This paper attempts to throw a critical light on some of the myths and clichés that have accrued around this production, for instance regarding theatrical life in the Third Reich or the position of The Merchant of Venice on the Nazi stage. Of specific interest is the question where the professed infamy of the 1943 production should be located : on the level of the performance text, the directorial approach, the impersonation of the actors, the reception, or the historical context. The essay also takes a look at some of the people involved in this production, such as the director Lothar Müthel, the Third Reich’s star actor Werner Krauß, and the Nazi governor of Vienna, Baldur von Schirach. Shakespeare en devenir N°9 — 2015 fr jeu., 23 avril 2015 09:03:16 +0200 sam., 28 déc. 2019 14:24:01 +0100 https://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr:443/shakespeare/index.php?id=865 0