There aren’t a lot of companies left like Shakespeare Bash’d in the Toronto theatre scene. They’re indie but they’re experts- a valued production category largely washed away by the pandemic and just starting to be rebuilt by newcomers fresh from theatre school and vets slowly re-emerging after a long hiatus. In this unsteady landscape, Shakespeare Bash’d’s Merchant of Venice reminds us what a privilege it is to have established, mid-career artists consistently producing independent work in the city (tickets start as low as $25, though they’re very difficult to come by).

While still showcasing some new talent, there is a distinct Shakespeare Bash’d community of players who form the backbone of their productions. This repertory dynamic plus the company’s unflinching dedication to text and craft guarantees a certain standard of technique that unfortunately can’t be taken for granted anywhere else in the indie landscape. At absolute minimum, a Shakespeare Bash’d piece is carefully considered and executed by performers who know what they’re saying and can say it clearly. There’s also a company style of focused, usually modern staging that always serves the text well by keeping the action moving and the use of cumbersome props and set pieces to a minimum. Merchant of Venice (currently onstage at the Theatre Centre BMO Incubator through Feb 23), reflects all these principles and, in doing so, unlocks the creative team’s ability to make affectingly bold choices.

Director (and Bash’d co-AD) Julia Nish-Lapidus’ decision to populate the cast and creative team with mostly Jewish artists is the key to her intense and memorable production. The added sensitivity of shared cultural history allows the team to more thoroughly mine the text and explore the true depths of its darkness while reckoning with its canonical positioning as a comedy. Many directors who choose to stage this problem play as a tragedy through modern eyes make drastic cuts to the text’s comedy elements in an attempt to “fix” its tonal dissonance but Nish-Lapidus brilliantly forces the audience to confront what now feels contradictory in order to examine the brutality of what we’ve been told to laugh at. Through act five’s rom-com-y ring hijinks, Shylock’s violently removed head covering sits abandoned centre stage as a keen reminder of what lies beneath the charm of Hallie Seline’s bright Portia getting one over on Bassanio (Cameron Laurie). Empowered by conscious casting and a mournful frame device that sees attendees at a Shabbat gathering set out to uncover why the mention of a comedy fills them with such personal sadness (clever use of the play’s evocative opening line transitions into the action beautifully), the cast hits every one of the text’s hateful moments with a harshness I’ve rarely seen in this or any play, even mining contextualizing hurt in moments most productions fly past. Portia’s casual cruelty towards Jessica (Cameron Scott) is a beat commandingly clarified by performance which pays dividends in a moving, reimagined take on Jessica’s fate that feels fresh but, as ever with Bash’d, still firmly rooted in the text.

Tight and clear execution allows strong choices to shine in this aesthetically restrained but deeply thoughtful production that stares unflinchingly at its problematic material and demands that the audience does too.