HAVE CHARIOT, WILL TRAVEL

"Ben Hur: Live", an extravaganza that is travelling around Europe (next stop: Gelsenkirchen, Germany), has had a slew of mixed notices. This is to be expected when theatre critics review a stadium show. Theatre often relies on a peculiar intimacy between performers and audience members, which can change night to night. "Ben Hur: Live", however, depends on the pomp and spectacle of an epic film. Having caught the show during its premiere stint at London's 02 Arena, I can say that it neither succeeds nor fails by these measures. It just falls in between.

Fifteen years in the making, at a cost of €6m, "Ben Hur: Live" is the grand and rather bonkers vision of Franz Abraham, a Bavarian impresario. In just under two hours, a cast of 400 Russians attempt to recreate one of the most sprawling and ambitious movies of Hollywood, complete with a bewildering array of horses and props. It takes 50 trucks to transport the show from one venue to the next.

Yet for all its grandstanding, "Ben Hur: Live" has at least part of its tongue in its cheek in a way the Oscar-winning, overlong film never did. Our hero Judah (Sebastian Thrun), together with his friend (and ultimate nemesis) Masalla (Michael Knese), gallop around the arena with huge grins and colourful red-and-blue outfits, tossing off clunky lines in Aramaic and Latin. This "tale of Christ" might be the world’s biggest-budget pantomime.

Steward Copeland, erstwhile drummer for the Police, composed the music and narrated the London shows. He sporadically strode onstage in a spotlight to interact with a piece of scenery or ride a horse. (With his swept white hair and black suit, he was a shoo-in for Jerry Springer.)

One scene features a bustling Jerusalem street scene, replete with jugglers, acrobats, traders and an invading Roman army. Another is a bizarre naval battle in which large banana-shaped vehicles combat pirates in go-karts (who still speak Aramaic).Then there is a (family-friendly) orgy of Roman acrobatics. And finally we are treated to the famous chariot race, in which 20 horses charge around the arena before crashing, one by one, leaving Ben Hur the victor. He can then recover his estranged family in time to witness the Sermon on the Mount.

Perhaps it goes without saying that this is not great theatre. I was not moved, I did not learn anything, and the effects don't quite capture the effect of the half-century old film. Yet "Ben Hur: Live" definitely has something. You might not know quite why or what you are watching, but you keep watching. The gymnastics are superb, some of the choreography is breathtaking, and when the real horses gallop on, pulling real chariots, the effect is a sense of marvel stronger than any felt at a play or film. This is true coliseum entertainment.

Tour dates for "Ben Hur: Live" are available on its website

~ ED CUMMING