Why not revolutionise the way we present visiting theatre? Given that this production is played in Manipuri, that the surtitles are tantalisingly brief and that the programme synopsis is printed in a hard-to-read white-on-orange background, why not preface each performance with a five-minute talk outlining the story? Then we could all relax and enjoy what is clearly an intriguing 80-minute production.
It hails from the much-travelled Chorus Repertory Theatre of Manipur. It is directed, designed and composed by Ratan Thiyam. And it deals with a legendary emperor of the Maurya dynasty, Ashoka (272-232 BC), who conquered most of the Indian subcontinent. What we see in the course of the story is the militarily mighty Ashoka coming to terms with the resulting devastation and acknowledging the evil within his soul, symbolised by the malevolent Ghor, whom he appoints lord of Hell. Enlightenment, the show suggests, lies in self-knowledge. Only when we confront and embrace our capacity for destruction can we finally expel it.
You could hardly have a more timely message. But, without much help from the surtitles, you are left trying to deduce the content of each scene from the images. Some are instantly striking. The all-conquering Ashoka returns from battle seated in a howdah atop a prop-elephant. A "whirlpool of blood" is evoked through the encasement of Ashoka in red banners like an Egyptian mummy. Best of all, Ghor's hellish delight in torment is suggested by a parade of white-clothed victims who are guillotined, garrotted or hanged before being served up for carving by a sinister chef.
There is no denying the aesthetic precision of Thiyam's production. The images are telling, the music adroitly mixes tinkling bells and drums and there are even jokes - as when one of a quartet of orange-robed Buddhist monks nervously jibs at the prospect of pole-vaulting over a stream. Thiyam, while creating his own company in Manipur, has clearly been influenced by Brook's work in Paris and Suzuki's in Japan. But the show also poses many questions. Are we meant to take Hell, in the context of the story, as a physical province or an internal state? Do we have to destroy in order to create? And what happens to modest sinners who are not in a position to rule evil empires? Tonight there will be a prefatory panel at the Barbican, East Meets West, discussing the interaction of different cultural traditions. But one question it might address is how best to present work like this, which plunges western spectators into a world of unfamiliar myth.
Ends tonight. Box office: 020-7638 8891.
