The Merchant (play) would make a big profit, but this did not happen. He wrote a book about the play in 1999, "The Birth of Shylock and the Death of Zero Mostel". In this play, Shylock is a good man and Antonio's, the title character in Shakespeare's play, good friend. They bond in their love of knowledge and mutual dislike of the antisemitism in their community. Shylock's demand for a pound of flesh is meant as a jest, but he can not retract it. Both Shylock and Antonio are relieved when the demand is denied in court. Reviewing "The Merchant", critic Michael Billington
The School of Night (play) his own knife. Skeres and Poley are horrified. Marlowe dies. Shakespeare and Rosalinda visit Marlowe's grave in Deptford. Rosalinda is still convinced that all went as planned and she will meet Marlowe in Venice. Shakespeare says she must prepare herself for the possibility that Marlowe is dead. In "Shakespeare Survey", Jill L. Levinson, says that Whelan creates an "elusive Shakespeare, gifted and influential" and that the play weaves together references to "more than half a dozen scripts from Henry VI to Othello." The Hollywood Reporter complained that the play was far too heavy on exposition, but that "Whelan does capture