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I might well have stayed had there not been that infernal tube strike on Wednesday, but 1 hour and 45 mins of 'Ring' was enough to make me realise that the show wasn't packing any surprises, so I left just before the end while there were still seats to be had on the buses.

The programme notes state that 'Ring', choreographed by Felix Ruckert 'is an interactive dance piece which breaks the usual boundaries between performers and audience, as audience participation is an integral part of the work'. I'll say. The audience does at least half of the work, as twenty one volunteers sit on a circle of outward-facing chairs while a similar number of 'dancers' move slowly around them, tweaking, caressing, and manipulating them, sometime pulling them from their chairs to do a few tentative dance steps. To relieve the intolerable monotony of this exercise, dancers and sitters would occasionally rush into the inner circle, lie down on top of each other and close their eyes as if in sleep. I suspect that audience was largely composed of dancers or dance students, as those who volunteered to be the sitters moved noticeably well - particularly telling was the fluidity with which they rose from their recumbent 'sleeping' positions.

The exercise took about fifteen minutes, and was then repeated all over again with another twenty-one volunteers from the audience - I saw it a heroic three times in all before leaving,

Interestingly, however, when I went out into the bar during the performance I saw about five minutes of the show on a large monitor and realised that it looked much, much better when viewed from a slight height. It became evident that there were patterns in the work which were quite invisible from the floor - the tiered seating had been removed, presumably to allow for a larger performance area, so the audience and the stage were on the same level - not ideal. The one lovely moment - for me - was when the standing dancers linked hands with the sitters and then stepped backwards into the inner circle and bent deeply back, like the petals of a flower opening, but, without the benefit of any overhead perspective, this beautiful effect was entirely lost.

Ulrike Haage's composed electronic score, operated by herself, was always pleasing and it would be interesting to hear it applied to a more animated piece of work.

It's only fair to conclude by saying that, despite some pointed leave-taking early on in the proceedings, remaining audience members seemed relaxed and there was even an occasional ripple of laughter. Perhaps I just wasn't in on the joke.