Behind The Beautiful Forevers is theatre on a grand scale attempting to recreate Indian slum life and all its seemingly insurmountable issues of clashing religions, female repression, corruption, extreme inequality and superstition.

To create such an epic in the intimacies of a theatre, you need a fitting backdrop and Katrina Lindsay’s set is a masterpiece, almost balletic in its transformations from slum village, police station, hospital ward and industrial site.

During the first half, the play seems to struggle under the enormity of its challenge, the opening scenes are disjointed as a whole village of characters are introduced to us, at first seeming more caricatures than fully realised people.

Playwright David Hare is clearly determined that we see these figures as the fully rounded human beings they were first drawn from, and not simply vessels we should pity, and tries to use humour to show their lives are not tragedy upon tragedy.

Unfortunately the humour often strikes the wrong tone, lacking in subtlety, and jarring alongside scenes of violence and desperation.

In the second half, the drama comes to the fore as the characters win or lose their individual battles, the gags are phased out and the whole production comes pretty thrillingly close to faithfully depicting the world’s largest democracy.

This was the first time that I had seen any of the National Live at the cinema, and as a lover of the intimacies of live drama, I was sceptical.

But I am truly a convert, the cinema version of theatre offers you close-ups and angles of live dramatic performance one could never hope to get even at the theatre itself.

As good as the real thing? Maybe not. But as one heck of a substitute on your doorstep, more please.