The Merchant of Venice "play Antonio as gay". Joseph Fiennes, however, who plays Bassanio, encouraged a homoerotic interpretation and, in fact, surprised Irons with the kiss on set, which was filmed in one take. Fiennes defended his choice, saying "I would never invent something before doing my detective work in the text. If you look at the choice of language … you'll read very sensuous language. That's the key for me in the relationship. The great thing about Shakespeare and why he's so difficult to pin down is his ambiguity. He's not saying they're gay or they're straight, he's leaving it up to his
The Merchant of Venice edition in 1600 states that it had been performed "divers times" by that date. Salerino's reference to his ship the "Andrew" (I,i,27) is thought to be an allusion to the Spanish ship "St. Andrew," captured by the English at Cádiz in 1596. A date of 1596–97 is considered consistent with the play's style. The play was entered in the Register of the Stationers Company, the method at that time of obtaining copyright for a new play, by James Roberts on 22 July 1598 under the title "The Merchant of Venice", otherwise called "The Jew of Venice". On 28 October 1600