Eleanor Phelps George Arliss who had starred as Shylock in Ames's Broadway production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" during the Broadway season just ended. In any event, Ames offered Phelps the role of Jessica in the post-Broadway national tour of "Merchant of Venice." At the end of the University Players 1928 summer season, Phelps left Cape Cod to join Arliss and company and never returned to Falmouth. She loved "more than anything being in a play by Mister Shakespeare." Phelps appeared in motion pictures in the early 1930s with roles in "The Run Around" (1932), "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934),
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