Patrick Stewart to Star in RSC's MERCHANT OF VENICE

According to an article by Baz Bamigboye for UK Daily Mail, stage and screen star Patrick Stewart is set to join the Royal Shakespeare Company production of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.  Stewart will star as Shylock in the production, which is set to be directed by Rupert Goold. Though an agreement has been made between Stewart and RSC, he has not yet signed the contract. Rehearsals will begin in late March.

Stewart has been a prolific actor in performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in over 60 productions. His first appearance was in 1966 in The Investigation and in the years that followed he became a core member of the company, taking on three or four major roles each season and rarely taking a break. His most recent appearance for the company was as Claudius in Hamlet in 2008.

Stewart has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century. He is most widely known for his television and film roles, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, and as the voice of Avery Bullock in American Dad!.

Read the full article at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1339352/These-Shylocks-real-money-spinners.html#ixzz18KQnD4AO

MERCHANT OF VENICE is currently running on Broadway featuring: Al Pacino (Shylock), Lily Rabe (Portia), Byron Jennings (Antonio), Jesse L. Martin (Gratiano), Gerry Bamman (Duke of Venice), Heather Lind (Jessica), Matthew Rauch (Solanio), and Richard Topol (Tubal) reprise their roles in this acclaimed production.

New cast members who have joined the Broadway company include Marsha Stephanie Blake (Nerissa), Christopher Fitzgerald (Launcelot Gobbo), David Harbour (Bassanio), Peter Francis James (Salerio), Isaiah Johnson (Prince of Morocco), Charles Kimbrough (Prince of Arragon), and Seth Numrich (Lorenzo).

The company also features Happy Anderson, Liza J. Bennett, Glenn Fleshler, Luke Forbes, Herb Foster, Bryce Gill, Thomas Michael Hammond, Jade Hawk, Bethany Heinrich, Curt Hostetter, Tia James, Kelsey Kurz, BrIan Keith Macdonald, Dorien Makhloghi, Kim Martin-Cotten, and Baylen Thomas.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE is one of Shakespeare's most thrilling and controversial plays, rich with love and betrayal, forgiveness and revenge. The Jewish moneylender Shylock makes a loan to Antonio, a Christian merchant. Their loan contract, steeped in prejudice and centered on the play's infamous "pound of flesh," sweeps the two men and everyone in their worlds into chaos. Only the insightful Portia can imagine a way forward, but for her and those she loves, even "the quality of mercy" has its limits.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos