The Merchant of Venice you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" Those who see the speech as sympathetic point out that Shylock says he learned the desire for revenge from the Christian characters: "If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction." Even if Shakespeare did not intend the play to be read this way, the fact that it retains its power on stage for audiences who may perceive its central conflicts in radically different terms is an
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