What do you get when you combine a 16th century work of Chinese literature, a renowned¹ Chinese theatre director and a British rock star?

The result is Monkey: Journey to the West, a show which blends acrobatics², music, animation³ and martial⁴ arts to tell the story of Sun Wukong and his travelling companions on their journey of redemption.

Performed in Mandarin⁵ to sell-out crowds in London's Theatre Royal last week, the show is a stage adaptation of the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West.

"An unclassifiable extravaganza" was how The Guardian⁶ described the show, while another reviewer said it was a performance that "left no genre⁷ untouched and whose scale of ambition could only be marvelled⁸ at."

Indeed, for director Chen Shi-zheng, bringing the wildly imaginative Chinese tale to a 21st century Western audience was a creative challenge that allowed him and his team to mix together a wide range of influences.

The score was composed by British musician Damon Albarn, lead singer of Blur⁹ and co-creator of the virtual cartoon band Gorillaz. It is played by an orchestra that uses both Western instruments and the traditional Chinese pipa, guzheng and zhongruan.

Another aspect which makes this show stand out is the use of animation, which is projected onto a large screen behind the stage. Director Chen said "the integration¹⁰ of animation and sound was really a work of genius."

The Monkey King, as Sun Wukong is known in English, as well as Pigsy, Sandy and a host of other characters and monsters are brought to life by 40 acrobats¹¹ from the Dalian circus troupe¹².

Even though The Monkey King is less well-known outside North-East Asia, many British people fondly remember a cult¹³ 1970s TV series called Monkey.

And this isn't the last British people will be seeing of The Monkey King this summer.

The team behind the stage show have produced an animated¹⁴ title sequence for the BBC's Olympic coverage¹⁵ which shows Monkey and his friends battling monsters on their way to Beijing's Olympic Stadium.