The Merchant of Venice (opera) In his will he left his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in productions of "Hamlet". Tchaikowsky met the theatre director John O'Brien in 1968 and they agreed to attempt an opera on "The Merchant". O'Brien has noted "At first it seemed odd that [Tchaikowsky], as a Jew, would want to take Shylock on, particularly at a time when there was a feeling that Shakespeare was anti-Semitic, which is a nonsensical thing anyway." Most of the opera was written by 1978, and following discussions with the music critic Hans Keller, Tchaikowsky decided to submit it for consideration to
The Merchant of Venice (1961 film) a little bit of edge to her tongue. Tanya has all these." The Merchant of Venice (1961 film) The Merchant of Venice is a 1961 Australian TV adaptation of the play by William Shakespeare. The "Sydney Morning Herald" called it "the most important television play of the year. and among Sydney's actresses the role of Portia was the most sought after." It went to the relatively inexperienced Tanya Halesworth who was a presented at the ABC. Director Alan Burke said he saw Portia "as a beautiful debutante, the darling of the deb set of her day. I wanted a beautiful