UNTIL OCT 5: REVIEW - E M Forster's A Passage to India, Theatre Royal, Bath: MARTIN Sherman's adaptation of Forster's epic tale of India in the days of the Raj is a magnificent piece of craftsmanship.

The audience is transported into the heat, sounds and almost the smell of the subcontinent as Shared Experience Theatre Company unfolds a complex tale of stiff Edwardian British rulers in an increasingly restless corner of the Empire.

The story revolves around Adela Quested (Penny Layden) who travels to India with Mrs Moore (Susan Engel), to see if she wants to marry Mrs Moore's son Ronny (Guy Lankester), a magistrate, and could take to the colonial way of life.

Both Adela and Mrs Moore shock the British establishment by not only wanting to mix with the natives, but treat them as equal human beings.

The older woman is impervious to the disapproval of her son and his fellow ex-pats. Adela being younger and nave is less assertive and indeed much less sure of how to behave, which is to have disastrous consequences.

They meet and become friends with Dr Aziz (Paul Bazely), a young Indian widower who resents the British occupation of his country and their treatment of his people as sub-human, but meets respect with respect and is particularly friendly with English teacher Cyril Fielding (Ian Gelder) who has no truck with any sort of prejudice.

An outing to some mountainous caves, organised by Aziz, ends with him being accused of raping Adela. Forster's tale is a no-holds barred indictment of the Raj attitude which automatically assumes guilt simply because Aziz is Indian.

But the story is much more complicated than that, and Sherman's script, together with ingenious choreography, imaginative simplicity of props and subtle lighting combine to create a kind of magic.

There is an elusive quality, not quite surreal, but as if everything is seen through a shimmering haze and therefore not to be taken at face value.

There is a great deal of mysticism, repressed emotion suddenly awakened, explosive passion, insufferable bigotry, and occasionally humour. It is a poignant portrait of a very particular time and place.

Aaron Neil as Godbole the philosopher is a particular delight as he 'explains' the Hindu philosophy in a series of baffling contradictions and goes away smiling with pleasure because he feels he has clarified the picture, or with guile because he hasn't? One is never quite sure.

If you saw the film version and enjoyed it, you'll like this even more. It's at Bath until Saturday.