Seeing Merchant Of Venice In Stifling, Breezeless Heat

“During a scene added for this production, Shylock submits to a forced baptism in a small onstage pool. Pacino’s silent anguish as his face was dunked repeatedly in the water seemed only deepened by the thirst for it in the audience. People watched in horror at the forced christening of the Jew — but with a tinge of envy….”