SOURCE: Wolf, Matt. Review of The Merchant of Venice. Variety 375, no. 11 (2 August 1999): 40.

In the following review, Wolf praises the ability of Trevor Nunn, the director of The Merchant of Venice for the National Theatre, to sustain audience interest throughout his production.

Among the many special relationships talked about in England, perhaps it's time to acknowledge the unique theatrical symbiosis between Shakespeare and Trevor Nunn. The Bard seems to breathe more easily when directed by Nunn, as evidenced over the better part of two decades at the Royal Shakespeare Co. and now at the National Theater. Also, as his present staging of The Merchant of Venice definably proves, Nunn has the effect on Shakespeare of wiping a time-honored canvas clean, revealing colors whose clarity is sometimes shocking: After all, when was the last time that Merchant—for all its abundant mournfulness—was packed so full of high spirits?

The...