The costumier is Notting Hill Carnival's prize-winning Clary Slandy. The designer is Dick Bird, the man who turned the basement of Saltdean's art deco hotel into a forest for last year's Festival highlight Dirty Wonderland.

And the company is celebrated physical theatre group Told By An Idiot, prized for their sensual style and flashes of invention. It may contain only one line of dialogue but this promises to be one interesting-looking piece of theatre.

Taking the audience on a journey into Trinidadian carnival, The Evocation Of Papa Mas is the brainchild of director John Wright, who was surprised to learn, when he began his research, that carnival was not "just this happy clappy thing".

"Papa Mas is the spirit of carnival - what makes people want to dance in the street looking completely ridiculous," he says.

"When the slaves were released in the 1800s in Trinidad, they were deeply resentful. They took to the streets dragging coffins after them. It was a combination of Mardi Gras, the French tradition, and half-remembered West African street practices. It was like a protest march but danced in bitterness and fury."

Inspired by this sense of stylised aggression, Wright has devised a simple, parodic story about a plantation owner and his daughter, Rosemary, who falls in love with a freed slave. When the father shoots the lover, he continues to haunt Rosemary from beyond the grave.

The six performers and five musicians will be joined by members of the local community, who have been training with the company for the past six months.

Times vary, tickets cost £15, call 01273 709709.