War Sum Up, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, May 25

War Sum Up, a multimedia opera of traditional Japanese poetry and contemporary manga graphics, wasn’t really a pleasant experience. But then at the heart of the performance lies some fairly dark and unpleasant themes.

War, futility and brutality are all topics explored through the show’s three archetypal characters. The first was The Soldier, disillusioned with home-life and driven to medication. The second was The Warrior, killed before his time and left to linger as a ghost. Finally, there was The Spy, caught during battle and forced to rediscover her martial arts skills.

Each tale was told in the Noh theatre style, featuring traditional texts sung in Japanese, with English subtitles lending some appreciation to the poetic writing style. It was accompanied by costumes courtesy of Scandinavian designer Henrik Vibskov, whose visually surreal wardrobe creation is best imagined as the garb of a futuristic samurai.

The music swung throughout from opera to thumping electro to choir.

The Dome’s sound quality was a little disappointing and didn’t do justice to the show’s extraordinary collaborative process, which included contributors like the Latvian Radio Choir and the performance pop orchestra The Irrepressibles.

The extraordinary set designs were arguably the show’s highlight. The use of two veil-like screens, overlaid with cartoons, euphoric light shows, and pop-art colouring created an eerie, 3D quality.

As a viewing experience War Sum Up was far from pleasant - if anything it was nightmarish. Yet as you walked away from the surreal and troubling performance space, what lingered was a thought-provoking take on the ever-adapting nature of war.