Sutra

BY CHARLES ANDERSON

Last updated 10:55 03/03/2010

MAKING MOVES: Sidi Larbi Cherakaoui in a scene from Sutra.

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I have always been something of a kung fu fanboy. The exercise of exerting lethal force causing imminent death has a brutal sort of sexiness about it. But Shaolin monks don't do lethal force very well.

It must be something to do with the Buddhist faith prohibiting violence in all its forms. But they have been perfecting their fighting technique for centuries – learning how to imitate monkeys, doing handstands using just their fingertips and getting bamboo sticks whacked across their stomachs.

You would not want to mess with a Shaolin master. Their practice seems to relate more to mental cultivation – preparing themselves for spiritual awakening rather than figuring out how best to kill someone in three movements.

The movement of Sutra brings together both. It has a beautiful violence about it that blends traditional kung fu and stylish stage production with a moody European score and highly original choreography. At first, I was a bit worried that the whole process might cause Bruce Lee to roll over in his grave. But then you realise it is called martial art for a reason, and this performance shows almost every aspect of that art.

Using 17 monks and 17 large wooden oblong boxes, the effect is an eclectic sort of Shaolin Jenga, which is not so inappropriate, seeing that the action on stage is dictated by another skill game – chess.

During the play, a child monk bridges the gap between individuals and the community. As he plays with the outsider of the show, choreographer and dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the movement of the chess pieces becomes life-size action.

The wooden boxes are the only stage props and become a plethora of objects throughout the performance – from a boat or a wall, to a shipyard and coffins. They are moved by the monks into any number of formations, setting the scene in which they interact.

The Shaolin temple's kung fu academy had been looking for an artist to collaborate with, to display the monks' incredible martial arts talent. Cherkaoui was looking for inner peace.

As the offspring of a Moroccan Muslim and a Belgian Catholic, it is unsurprising that Cherkaoui, who does not speak Mandarin, chose being caught in the middle of miscommunication as a major theme in Sutra.

By the end of the performance, the audience has seen what makes kung fu such a wonderful spectator sport. But it has also been shown how, sometimes, miscommunication can give rise to understanding and, in the end, wonderful and original art.

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