Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) banter in the gardens of Belmont; Gobbo claiming that she is tainted by the sins of her father, and she can only hope that she was an illegitimate child and not actually related to Shylock. Jessica protests that then she would be visited by the sins of her mother, and Gobbo concurs that she would be damned either way. Jessica argues that she has been saved by her husband who has converted her to Christianity, to which Gobbo replies that Bassanio of contributing to the raised price of pork by the conversion of Jews (who may not eat pork) to
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