Under the shadow of a Venetian palazzo, the figure strides onstage in the regalia of an affluent Victorian gentleman —top hat, frock coat, gloves and cane. Is this some cultured character out of the pages of Henry James? One of the gentry from The Forsyte Sagal Hardly. It is Shakespeare's "wolvish, bloody" Shylock, in a provocative new production of The Merchant of Venice by London's National Theatre. The director is the multidexterous Jonathan Miller, who for the past year has ...

A chill wind is blowing through Mitte, the once drab district in central Berlin that is fast becoming hangout central for the world's creative types. Davide Grazioli, used to warmer climes, pulls his black woolly hat over his head and strides up Kastanien Allee — now dubbed Casting Alley because of all the wannabe film directors and actors who frequent its cafs. Grazioli is an Italian artist whose work includes unraveled embroideries from India and skulls made of organic ...