Les Sept Planches De La Ruse, which means The Seven Boards Of Skill, is the spectacular new work conceived and directed by Aurélien Bory.

Based on an ancient Chinese game, the tangram, in which seven different shapes are manipulated in almost infinite combinations, Les Sept Planches De La Ruse demonstrates how geometry is capable of producing exquisite visual poetry.

On stage, seven giant, interlocking forms are assembled and manoeuvred with incredible agility, strength and cunning by fourteen performers from Dalian, China. As the performers climb, balance and vanish into voids, new images are created evoking abstract landscapes, terrifying ravines and sky-high city towers, they are vivid metaphors for human experience.

Les Sept Planches De La Ruse plays at the Barbican theatre as part of the London International Mime Festival 2009, and is suitable for theatregoers aged eight and older.