A performance of The Merchant of Venice by Israel's Habima theatre company has taken place at Shakespeare's Globe in London amid protests by pro-Palestinian activists.
Around 15 protesters were led or carried out during the performance after unfurling banners and Palestinian flags.
Before the play began, the Globe's artistic director Dominic Dromgoole had asked the audience to stay calm in the event of any disturbances.
The actual performance carried on despite the disruptions.
Security had been stepped up ahead of Monday night's show, with airport-style metal detectors in the theatre foyer, and audience members' bags being searched.
The Hebrew-language production has proved controversial since a group of high-profile stage names called for the Globe to boycott the company over its performances in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
On Monday late afternoon there were small-scale demonstrations outside the Globe by both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups.
There was also a police presence outside the theatre, while a private security firm was employed inside the building.
As the performance was about to begin on the open-air stage, Dromgoole addressed the audience and joked about the unusual security arrangements.
"If there are disturbances, let's be perfectly calm," he went on. "Don't get angry."
He asked members of the audience not to attempt any "citizen's arrests".
"You're not watching politicians or policy-makers," Dromgoole said. "You are watching artists who are here to tell a story."
He said he hoped the Israel company could be listened to "with the same respect and enthusiasm" as the others in the current Shakespeare season.
About 10 minutes into the play, a banner reading "Israel Apartheid leave the stage" was unfurled from the first-floor balcony accompanied by several Palestinian flags.
Security men moved in and several people were removed, some of them saying "No violence!"
Other protesters showed peace signs or stood up with tape over their mouths.
Audience members who attempted to take photos were asked to stop by stewards.
More banners and flags were unfurled on two more occasions before the interval.
As the protesters were removed, some shouted "Free Palestine!"
After the interval, a man standing in front of the stage was ejected after shouting: "Hath a Palestinian not eyes?" in a twist on Shylock's famous speech.
Another performance of The Merchant of Venice is due to take place on Tuesday.
The play is part of the Globe to Globe festival which sees all of Shakespeare's plays performed in 37 different languages over six weeks.
In March, the Globe's former artistic director Mark Rylance was among a number of signatories to an open letter, published in The Guardian, calling for the boycott of Habima.
The letter expressed "dismay and regret" at the Globe's inclusion of Habima theatre's production of The Merchant of Venice.
It said Habima had "a shameful record of involvement with illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory".
Other signatories included Mike Leigh, Jonathan Miller, Caryl Churchill, Emma Thompson, David Calder, Harriet Walter and Miriam Margoyles.
In January, campaign group Boycott From Within sent an open letter to the Globe that criticised Habima's performances in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
In response, Shakespeare's Globe said the festival was "a celebration of languages and not… a celebration of nations and states."
It went on: "We are acutely aware that there are strong feelings on either side of this debate, and have received a huge number of communications supporting both viewpoints.
"However, it remains our contention, and we think a suitable one for a Shakespearean theatre, that people meeting and talking and exchanging views is preferable to isolation and silence."
Last September, protesters disrupted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's BBC Proms concert at London's Royal Albert Hall.
BBC Radio 3 said it had to interrupt its live broadcast twice "as a result of sustained audience disturbance".
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign had earlier called on people to boycott the concert and urged the BBC to cancel it.
"I think it is important for Israeli theatre in general to be part of international activities," Ilan Ronen, Habima's artistic director, told the BBC earlier on Monday.
"We are very much involved in the last three years in a lot of collaborations with the leading theatres in Berlin, Moscow and other places. This is the reason we were so happy to be invited to this festival.
"I think politically it's an important festival. This is a way for artists to meet each other and have a better dialogue and be helpful, maybe, to our politicians, to make the world better."
Founded in Moscow in 1913, Habima settled in Tel Aviv in the late 1920s. Since 1958, it has been recognised as the National Theatre of Israel.
The Globe to Globe Festival is the company's first visit to the UK.
Globe To Globe is just one element of the World Shakespeare Festival - co-ordinated by the Royal Shakespeare Company - and part of the London 2012 Festival, which ties in with the summer Olympics.
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