It might help to have more than a passing interest in Soviet politics to get the most out of David Schneider's ambitious new play. Jewish artists such as the Moscow State Theatre's Solomon Mikhoels, played here with great charisma by Darrell D'Silva, had extra reason to be afraid. Not only was there the risk of displeasing Stalin's authorities with their art, but of playing to audiences for whom a good night out could equally mean a play or pogrom.

Schneider sets the action over a period of about a quarter-of-a-century, almost to the end of Stalin's rule. And he skilfully sets out the political pressures and dangers under which Mikhoels and his company worked and survived. You can see why an RSC actor of D'Silva's standing was attracted to a big, fat role such as this. According to Schneider, Mikhoels was as much a risk-taker artistically as he was a womaniser. With every production, he somehow had to reconcile staging a work that celebrated Jewishness without elevating Jews above, or even to the same level, as the rest of Soviet society.

Jewish suffering at the hands of the Nazis could be recognised but not singled out. Tricky. One wrong step and he or any member of his company would be arrested by the feared NKVD.

The result is a tense and dramatically fraught evening. Although well acted, Matthew Lloyd's production lacks the ambition of Schneider's script. This is a work deserving of a stage. It's historically fascinating, and often absorbing. But you wonder if JW3, who commissioned it, has bitten off more than it can chew.