Sitting In The Cheap Seats

Ian McKellen as Lear with Phil Daniels as the Fool and Sinead Cusack as Kent. Way back in the early days of Sitting In The Cheap Seats we had our first opportunity to review a Shakespeare play. In Chichester Festival Theatre ’s cosy Minerva space we saw Frank Langella lead a great cast and firmly add to our love of the Bard! Fast forward a few years and we’re back at the Minerva, once again awaiting an award winning actor to take on arguably the finest of roles!

You could be forgiven, if you didn’t know The Merchant of Venice well, for believing it to be a tragedy and more so for thinking Shylock is one of Shakespeare’s most caricature villains. Thankfully Jonathan Munby directs with flair, amping up the comedy without losing even a hint of pathos in what may already be the highlight of Shakespeare’s Globe ’s summer season!

Our friends at Shakespeare’s Globe piqued our interest when they announced  Jonathyan Pryce  would be playing Shylock in their production of The Merchant of Venice… well now they’ve hooked us once more as they’ve revealed the full cast!