Musashi - magical and magnificent

WHEN Ninagawa says "fight", they fight. When he says "dance", they dance. And when he turns around (metaphorically, of course) to the audience and says "laugh", there is no way you can resist his command.

Such is the skill of Japanese director Yukio Ninagawa, who can tug at your heartstrings one moment and have you doubled-over in laughter the next.

It's no wonder he has been billed as one of the Three Titans of Theatre and tickets to his staging of Hisashi Inoue's Musashi at the Esplanade Theatre last weekend sold out in no time.