kestrell

A Web site which refers to itself as "The Ultimate Free Shakespeare Source"
http://www.playshakespeare.com/
offers a podcasts page
http://www.playshakespeare.com/podcasts
includes the following podcast focusing on The Merchant of Venice:

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A one-night only reading of Shakespeare's perpetually controversial The Merchant of Venice featuring commentary from premiere West Coast Shakespeare scholar
Denise Battista. Following will be an audience discussion led by a panel of writers and artists including world-renowned Jewish-American author and fantasist
Peter S. Beagle and John Fisher, Artistic Director of Theater Rhinoceros, San Francisco's oldest queer theater company.
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I should note here that the
Athena Learning's John Barton "Playing Shakespeare" DVD series
http://athenalearning.com/programs/playing-shakespeare/episode-highlights
includes an entire episode on "The Merchant of Venice" with a lot of serious discussion on the representation of Shylock as a Jew (an episode which includes Patrick Stewart, btw).