Alan Yentob travels to the ghetto in Venice with award-winning novelist Howard Jacobson as he embarks on a retelling of Shakespeare's most performed play, The Merchant of Venice. Through a series of lively - often fiery - interviews, they examine the charge of anti-Semitism against Shakespeare, whose character Shylock remains one of the most odious and divisive fictional Jews in history.
How did the moneylender from Venice become such a useful propaganda tool in Nazi Germany? And how much of a liberty will Jacobson be taking when he uproots the action to modern-day Alderley Edge, and audaciously reinterprets the infamous 'pound of flesh'?
Interviewees include Antony Sher, Anthony Julius and Stephen Greenblatt.
Patty Cohen Domenico De Sole José Carlos Bergantiños Díaz Jack Flam Ann Freedman Michael Armand Hammer 杰伊·埃尔南德斯 Maria Konnikova Luke Nikas Pei-Shen Qian Michael Shnayerson