“The majestic Hebrew racial ideal”: Herr Daniel E. Bandmann’s Shylock on the Australian stage, 1880—1883

German-Jewish tragedian Daniel E. Bandmann’s performances as Shylock in his production of The Merchant of Venice between 1880 and 1883 quite literally radicalized Australian understandings of the part and the theatrical practice of the character’s dramatic portrayal. This examination draws on existent nineteenth-century press reports published throughout his 1880/83 tour to reclaim Bandmann’s conception of Shylock and usury in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice against contemporaneous theatrical reviews debating the aesthetic and dramatic implications of his portrayal. In this way, the examination recovers Bandmann’s mastery in exploiting the power of The Merchant of Venice to reflect back to audiences national trends responsive to the question of usury in his time.