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 Maori Merchant of Venice in which the Jew (Shylock) has a long memory of oppression, but revenge is not so sweet." Valerie Wayne, in "The Contemporary Pacific", underlined the apparent parallel drawn by the film between the oppression suffered by Shylock because of his Judaism and the sometimes violent subjugation of Māori by the colonial authorities in nineteenth century New Zealand. Reviewing "The Maori Merchant of Venice" for "Te Kete Ipurangi", Lana Simmons-Donaldson described it as "an educational, even motivational tool" for Māori language learners, and provided glowing praise: The film won the audience award for best feature at the Hawaii International Film Festival