With directions to sit on the floor within marked white lines, arriving at this interpretation of Aleister Crowley's life felt a little like being at a sinister school assembly.

Spooky sounds and darkness introduced the 50-minute piece, which opened with the stirring image of a maniacally grimacing actor blowing up a balloon until it popped.

A sequence of such eerie images followed, reflecting the different stages of Crowley's life, all narrated through an extended poem littered with ominous chants.

Hardly surprising for a play about a man whose name was synonymous with crazy sex magick that the atmosphere was on the dark side.

However, it was unclear whether this darkness was due to his evil spells or his rather sad life, which began with an oppressive and puritanical mother, continued with promiscuity and thwarted attempts to make magick and ended in poverty and loneliness.

It was a moving piece of theatre, although the lack of substance could have made it hard for those unfamiliar with Crowley's life.