Rap & Shakespeare? Seriously?!
We’ve been here before: trying to make Shakespeare accessible by making him faster and colloquial. Dupré’s approach is to take strong acting talent, some outstandingly fast MC’ing, and combine it all with a clever, funny and accessible script.
Patrick Stewart BBC Interview
He's one of my favourite actors, from Dune all the way to having seen him in The Tempest, Antony & Cleopatra, Macbeth and The Merchant Of Venice at the RSC.
The Merchant of Vegas - Shakespeare at the RSC
Locating Shakespeare’s plays in non-Elizabethan locations or timeframes is fairly common practice. In doing so different subtleties and themes can be brought out or explored, and sub-texts uncovered that are not apparent in its classical setting. But Rupert Goold’s choice of Las Vegas as the setting for The Merchant Of Venice, complete with American accents, is one of the more unusual I have come across.