Staging one of Shakespeare's most controversial plays in a climate of religious tension will invite close scrutiny.

Few, however, will walk away from director Loveday Ingram's Royal Shakespeare Company production with anything but the utmost respect for her thought-provoking interpretation of this notoriously difficult play.

The Merchant Of Venice continues to be the subject of furious debate because of its central character - Shylock, a Jewish money-lender who uses his enemy's misfortune to claim revenge.

Shylock is asked to lend his enemy Antonio (a Christian merchant) 3,000 ducats. But Shylock tricks Antonio into agreeing to forfeit a pound of flesh if the money is not repaid on time.

Antonio's ships are lost at sea and he is unable to meet the deadline. So Shylock takes him to court to demand his grisly prize.

Despite being offered three times the amount by Antonio's best friend Bassanio, Shylock refuses to show mercy, savouring the opportunity to kill him.

Shylock is often presented as a loan shark with no compassion who appears dressed in dirty clothes with a fuzz of red hair.

Although his character has some of the most powerful lines and emotive language in the play, famously the "If you prick us do we not bleed?" speech.

Shylock can all-too-easily become Shakespeare's unintentional baddie.

I say unintentional because Ingram's production suggests Shakespeare is conjuring with the hypocrisy in both Judaism and Christianity - not simply attacking the Jewish faith.

She rises above the heroes-and-villains mentality to expose a community imprisoned by ignorance and intolerance.

Her ambitions are spectacularly realised by a cast of first-class actors who lift the language with gusts of physical humour, hypnotic song and nimble rhetoric.

Ingram and her cast take chances with riotous success. Lewes-based actor Darren Tunstall had the audience in stitches when he spotted a group of late-comers and in true stand-up style stopped mid-sentence and asked: "Was thou gondola late?"

The clown of the show, he provides the hilarious highs which perfectly balance the steely depths of Ian Bartholomew's captivating Shylock.

Ingram's modernised production sets the action in early 19th-Century Venice, putting the men in pin-stripes and purple dress coats, the women in luscious satin.

The inventive but minimalist set, built from scratch in a sports hall, is a glowing and intimate space which lends itself perfectly to theatrical use.

The heating was a little over-zealous and signposting to the venue could have been better but the production itself was faultless. The performance starts at 7.30pm.

There are matinees today and Saturday at 1.30pm. Tickets cost from £13.50 to £18. Call 01444 876060.