THROUGH vibrant costumes, dance, drama and music, The Anvil will be transported into the culture of South India.

The Kala Chethena Kathakali Company will be celebrating 30 years of touring the UK and is bringing its masterpiece of sacred theatre which erupts on stage with striking visual imagery to Basingstoke on October 5.

The show is presented by world-class Kathakali experts who have undergone years of intense training and performed internationally for decades.

Before each performance there is a demonstration of how the actor tells a story, followed by a short film, to lead the audience into the Kathakali play that reflects the rich cultural identity of the people of India, especially the people of Kerala.

Co-director of the Kala Chethena Kathakali Company, Barbara Vijayakumar said: “Kathakali is a feast for the eyes and a gateway into another world where the imagination is free to expand and unite with characters, colours, music, movement in an atmosphere that emerged from a life established centuries ago.

“The stories are about how we as human beings relate to each other and the world we live in. Our dreams, aspirations, fears and failures roll into one experience of how society develops and resolves problems.

“In Kathakali there is always a battle between good and evil and good always wins.”

Barbara’s journey is a unique one having travelled alone in 1972, hitchhiking through Europe and Turkey, crossing Iran, passing through the mountains of Afghanistan on the top of a lorry, a bicycle and a donkey.

After travelling south she got off a train at the wrong stop and quite by chance stumbled across the Kerala Kalamandalam, where she asked to join a course in chutti and finally settled in Kerala.

She graduated in 1976 as the first female and non- Indian Kathakali make-up artist in the world.

Barbara is also the longest practising chutti artist – male or female - the first female Kathakali costumer and Kathakali costume maker in the world.

Barbara added: “It took a long time to be accepted and for the first year I was on my own – at that time men and women were segregated in Kerala.

“By the second year I was ready to come back to England and explained to my classmates that I was lonely. They said they were only treating me with respect and didn’t realize I felt excluded. After that life was much better and we became great friends and are still friends today.”

Kathakali will grace The Anvil on October 5, at 7.30pm. For more information, visit anvilarts.org.uk.