A musical power trip

A strange coup is happening in the ENO's studios. Statesmen in baggy sweatpants lank "revolutionary nuns" and, at the heart of the action, the Great Leader with a leonine stare: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Or, more precisely, British actor Ramon Tikaram playing the Libyan dictator.

Rehearsals for Gaddafi: The Living Myth - dance fusion outfit Asian Dub Foundation's first foray into musical theatre - are in full swing.

ADF's Steve Chandra Savale, who conceived the work, paces into another room where a darbuka drummer is practising. Raising his voice, he explains: "The image of Gaddafi - from demon to Utopian, with his own Green Book manifesto - always struck me; he's infamous but mysterious. His bodyguards' formation even reminded me of Public Enemy!

"This story has an arc - his ascension to power, his international dynamic - and Blair's visit to Libya in 2004 works as a kind of epilogue. I worked closely alongside the scriptwriter, Shan Khan, and I think it's pretty fair; it's not massively pro or anti-Gaddafi."

This is also a show based on a true story that isn't over yet, however, and as Gaddafi still looms large in Middle Eastern politics, he poses a tough challenge - both for the ENO (who've jointly commissioned this with Channel 4) and the passionately political ADF. Savale draws a parallel with ADF's live scores for confrontational films including La Haine and The Battle Of Algiers.

"Now, I'm focused on getting this soundtrack absolutely bangin'; we're performing with 20 members of the ENO orchestra." He smiles as the North African rhythms explode into breakbeats: "Yeah, they do that a lot."

For 48-year-old Ramon Tikaram, known for playing Ferdy in the BBC drama This Life, the role of Gaddafi also sets an unusual precedent. 'I guess my nearest experience was playing Judas at the Lyceum," he muses. "Gaddafi's a massively varied character and there's everything here from moments of extreme vulnerability to brutal ambition." Tikaram is rarely offstage, depicting Gaddafi from 1967 to the present day.

"Because my family has a military background, events such as 1980s terrorism and America's bombing of Libya [in 1986] had extra resonance for me," he says. "For this, I've had to appreciate Gaddafi's psychology. What I feel about him is a work in progress."

In contrast, 23-year-old rapper Riz Ahmed plays Gaddafi's (fictionalised) Minister of Oil Affairs, and adds another perspective: 'The piece's themes - occupation, invasion, fundamentalism, 'selling out' - they're so relevant today."

Gaddafi isn't a conventional opera - or West End musical, for that matter. But it does promise fascinating powerplay. The actors deliver heavily metered lyrics, with militaristic choreography by Hakeem Onibudo, and Es Devlin's multi-media set - videos (historical footage and livecam) are projected on to torn paper screens. But does the show's multifaceted director, David Freeman think there's any such thing as 'good' controversy?