Long, grey and imposing, the flight of stairs dominating the Lyceum stage in this production has almost as much to say as Shakespeare’s text. Blurring the line between performance area and auditorium, the steps pour down from backstage into the front row. Where does Edinburgh end and Venice begin? Can we see where reality stops and fiction starts? If we were in any doubt that the anti-Semitism, intolerance, misogyny, discrimination and injustice inherent in this centuries-old play is as prevalent now as it was in 1598, those stairs serve as a reminder. 

Director Arin Arbus has set her production in an ‘American city in the near future’, but really, she could have picked anytime, anywhere, human mistrust of difference being what it is. But the USA it is, and the USA it most certainly feels like, not just because it’s performed by New York-based company Theatre For A New Audience. Shakespeare’s language feels juicy and reborn delivered via their American tongues, while the exercise gear, sharp suits, cops with walkie-talkies and holstered guns, and news from foreign lands delivered by mobile phones all scream Big Apple.

Which not only feels timely, given recent events across the Atlantic, but perhaps goes some way towards making the language a touch more accessible. Not to diminish our esteemed tradition of Shakespearean actors, but we’re all so used to hearing American accents in our living room, the production is perhaps a little less alien to newcomers. It’s also performed by a strong cast who light up the stage with characterisation that feels rooted in reality, despite the outlandish content: a suitor opening the correct box to determine who Portia will marry, Shylock demanding a literal ‘pound of flesh’ in place of an unpaid debt. And the astute diverse casting gives this already multi-layered political text even more potency.

The Merchant Of Venice, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Saturday 15 February; main picture: Gerry Goodstein.