Win tickets to see NT's Merchant of Venice

No less an authority than the playwright John Mortimer says that the National Theatre's 1999 production of The Merchant of Venice is "the best thing it has ever done". Few people who have seen it would disagree with that assessment, and in conjunction with the National Theatre, The Independent on Sunday is offering readers the chance to win tickets to see this outstanding theatrical event.

The performance for which there are 10 pairs of top-priced, centre-stalls tickets to be won is on Friday 28 January. For the chance to be among the winners, answer the following questions:

1) Name one other Shakespeare play set in Venice;

2) What is the name of the Venice opera house destroyed by fire in 1996?

3) Who played Dr Aschenbach in Visconti's film Death in Venice?

Send your answers, with your name, address, and daytime phone number to: Merchant of Venice, Culture, The Independent on Sunday, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL, to arrive by Thursday 6 January. The senders of the first 10 correctly answered entries pulled from the hat after the closing date will each win a pair of tickets to the 28 January performance of The Merchant of Venice, starting at 7pm at the National's Olivier Theatre on London's South Bank. No cash alternative. The editor's decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. Usual competition rules apply. Results to be published on Sunday 9 January.

RESULT OF LAST WEEK'S COMPETITION

Answers: 1. 1397; 2 Thomas Rosamon; 3 Commedia dell'Arte. The following readers each win a pair of tickets to Dick Whittington at Sadler's Wells: Phil Lawrance of Barnet; Maureen O'Brien of London NW5; Ann Hutchinson of London N13; Mrs Helen Power of Maldon, Essex; Lesley Burton of Gosport, Hants; and Jean Lane of London E1.