The Merchant of Venice
National Theatre production
at the Old Vic Theatre, 1970
Role: Bassanio

Director Jonathan Miller set Shakespeare's play during late 1800s Venice. A New York Times reviewer dismissed this change as "arbitrary," but noted that Miller managed to stage a difficult play that skirted the problems of anti-Semitism that surround the character of Shylock.

Of course, the critic had praise for the actor who played Shylock: "Laurence Olivier's Shylock is admittedly an elegant piece of stagecraft. ... Olivier is marvelous -- a boardroom Shylock ... A robot business man with Hebraically ethnic overtones. ..."

But he had even higher praised for Jeremy Brett -- for giving the production's best performance, as "a grimly aggressive Bassanio."

This production was later staged for television. Read more >>

Plot summary, info about the National Theatre production

Wikipedia page about the play // Complete text of the play