Patrick Stewart to Play Shylock in the RSC’s The Merchant of Venice

Patrick Stewart will return to the Royal Shakespeare Company to play Jewish moneylender Shylock in The Merchant of Venice next spring, according to London’s Daily Mail. The production, helmed by RSC regular Rupert Goold, will begin performances on May 13, 2011.

Stewart starred in the recently shuttered Broadway production of David Mamet’s A Life in the Theater opposite T.R. Knight, and was a Tony nominee for playing the title role in the 2008 Broadway revival of Macbeth, which was also directed by Goold. Stewart recently played the dual role as Claudius and The Ghost in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet, winning an Olivier Award, and starred opposite Ian McKellen in a sold-out 2009 West End production of Waiting for Godot. His other Broadway credits include The Caretaker, The Tempest, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan and his acclaimed one-man version of A Christmas Carol.

This production will be the second time Sir Patrick demands his “pound of flesh” with the RSC; he first tackled the role for the company in 1978. He has also wrote and  performed Shylock: Shakespeare’s Alien, a one-man show taking the side of  what he calls "one of the most commonly reviled characters in Shakespeare."

The role of Shylock is currently being played on Broadway by  Al Pacino. That production is rumored to be eyeing a London transfer with Pacino attached some time next year, though no dates or theater have been announced.