Reasons to link these very different plays: they are both born out of the turmoil in the Middle East and each reflects one of the greatest fears of those caught up in the Arab revolutions — abduction by the authorities.

It would be harsh to say that Chekhov is turning in his grave. Stephen Beresford’s debut play is a little too tender, a bit too entertaining for that. But so obviously in thrall is Beresford to the Russian master, all the acting, directing and yes, writing talent on view here is fatally diminished by the comparison it invites.

In the 1980s, Harvey Fierstein’s Trilogy became the first Broadway hit to focus on gay life. Thirty years later, gay men still get beaten to death on the streets, parents still find it difficult to accept that their child’s sexuality may be different from their own and religious groups still think that a good way to protect their values is to deny gay people the right to affirm theirs.

You have to wonder what the likes of David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson would make of Laura Wade’s satire, which was first seen at the Royal Court in 2010.

It was an extraordinary evening. A production by Israel’s Habima Theatre company of The Merchant of Venice, staged at Shakespeare’s Globe, performed in Hebrew, charged with pro-Palestinian protest and electrified by a very fine production.