HEINOUS MACBETH

Following the success of the Zulu production of Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, it seems the climate is right for audacious interpretations of Shakespeare's Scottish play. Macbeth and Manipur are the winning formula in Lokendra Arambam's mesmeric production, Stage of Blood (right), a collaboration between the Forum For Laboratory Theatres of Manipur and Brentford's Watermans Arts Centre. The play is to be performed on a floating stage on the Thames from 20 to 24 Aug as the sun sets on the river, with the audience watching from Watermans riverside location. The production offers a more troubled perspective, in its reflection on Manipur's troubled history, on the 50th anniversary of the Independence of India and Pakistan.

Conventional narrative is disrupted as the play opens with Macbeth's death, closely followed by Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene. The iambic pentameter is abandoned in favour of the Manipuri martial art Thang Tha as Macbeth's inner turmoil is expressed purely through visual imagery and haunting live music. The witches are ditched as seven weird sisters stir their ethnic brew, and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become one person with the most frightening alter ego. You have been warned.

Stage of Blood, Watermans Arts Centre, High St, Brentford (0181-568 1176) 8pm to 24 Aug pounds 8.50 FS