Merchant of Venice cast update at Globe

Merchant of Venice cast update at Globe

Cast update for The Merchant of Venice , which opens at the Globe Theatre 12 June 2007, following previews from 2 June, running to 6 Oct 2007.

John McEnery returns to the Globe to play Shylock, with Michelle Duncan as Portia

The play also features: Kirsty Besterman, Philip Bird, Cornelius Booth, Jim Bywater, Philip Cumbus, Leander Deeny, Michelle Duncan, Craig Gazey, Adam Kay, John McEnery, Pippa Nixon, Chris Obi, Dale Rapley, Mark Rice-Oxley and Nicholas Shaw.

John McEnery has become a regular at the Globe with performances in Pericles, Henry V, As You Like It, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, A Mad World My Masters, Antony and Cleopatra, Kind Lear, Richard II, Edward II and Romeo and Juliet. He created the role of Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, as well as appearing in H and Love's Labour's Lost at the National Theatre. For television, his credits include Our Mutual Friend, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Buddha of Suburbia and Jamaica Inn; and for film, Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, Black Beauty, When Saturday Comes and Girl With a Pearl Earring.

Michelle Duncan makes her debut at the Globe. She has appeared on television in Low Winter Sun, Dr Who, Whatever Love Means, Sugar Rush and Sea of Souls. For film, her credits include The Broken, Atonement and Driving Lessons.

It is directed by Rebecca Gatward, designed by Liz Cooke.

The production will employ Renaissance staging, costume and music.

Portia, a wealthy heiress of Belmont, sets her suitors a challenge. He who wins it will win her hand; those who lose it will lose her hand and much more. In Venice, city of consumption, speculation and debt, Bassanio borrows money from Antonio to finance his attempt. Antonio, in turn, takes out a loan from the moneylender Shylock. The loan will be repaid when Antonio's ships return to the city. If they should fail and the money cannot be paid Antonio shall give to Shylock a pound of his own flesh. And they do fail. And Shylock will have his 'bond'.