The Merchant of Venice mercy". Critic Harold Bloom listed it among Shakespeare's great comedies. Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont. Having squandered his estate, he needs 3,000 ducats to subsidise his expenditures as a suitor. Bassanio approaches his friend Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice who has previously and repeatedly bailed him out. Antonio agrees, but since he is cash-poor – his ships and merchandise are busy at sea to Tripolis, the Indies, Mexico and England – he promises to cover a bond if Bassanio can find a lender, so Bassanio turns
Royal Shakespeare Company for the new Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatre stages. The 2011-season began with performances of "Macbeth" and a re-imagined lost play "The History of Cardenio". The fiftieth birthday season also featured "The Merchant of Venice" with Sir Patrick Stewart and revivals of some of the RSC's greatest plays, including a new staging of "Marat/Sade". For the London 2012 Festival as part of the Cultural Olympiad, the RSC produced the "World Shakespeare Festival", featuring artists from across the world performing in venues around the UK. In 2013 the company began live screenings of its Shakespeare productions – called Live from Stratford-upon-Avon