Starring: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins
Director: Michael Radford
Category: IIB
In the moneylender Shylock, William Shakespeare gave us one of theatres' great hate figures. Here's a man scorned by the people who often need him; made bitter not only by his own greed but by the lack of respect he's shown by those he also serves.
Countless hours in classrooms around the world have been spent trying to read between the lines of this play, tackling the issues of anti-semitism that have dogged it along the way. So, as with any recent reworking of Shakespeare, the audience will be expecting something fresh.
And, in this interpretation, director Michael Radford (Il Postino) has done just that. Thanks to the considerable talents of Al Pacino, he has breathed life into the production. Pacino's Shylock is defiantly cold and calculating, but he's also lonely and sad - even before erupting in anger as the characters around him conspire to scupper his plans for revenge.