At the end of his life a dying man turns to a young woman and tries to put right a wrong committed many years ago. As he recounts the story of his past he is taken back to The Bar of Lost Souls, a place where, it is said, your deepest desires become real.

The Bar of Lost Souls can be found at the quayside. You will know it when you see it. All sorts of dissolute people can be found there: pimps, whores, sailors and petty criminals, the police and even judges. If you open the door you'll smell the stale air and you'll be able to hear singing from the little stage at the back of its darkened room. If you dare go in your best have eyes in the back of your head, you have to be so careful not to get your purse snatched or your face slashed. Yes, it's dangerous all right. But if you manage to get in, you'll never forget the experience.

The show takes as its starting point the melting pot of Mediterranean port communities, where notions of national borders and identity are challenged by the ever-changing mix of ethnicities and nationalities, the activity of commerce, the blurring of the lines between legal and criminal behaviour and by the suspension of the norms that attempt to govern sexual and political orthodoxy.

Part musical, part dream play, Tales from the Bar of Lost Souls is a magical realist story of forbidden love, criminality and the possibility of finding redemption in the unlikeliest of places. Exquisitely designed by Laura Hopkins (Blackwatch), the audience watch the action through the bar's window, as a carnival of unsavoury characters reveal themselves and the haunting sequence of tales of murder, love and forgiveness unfolds.

Tales from the Bar of Lost Souls is part of the British Council's Creative Collaboration programme. The overall aim of the Creative Collaborations programme is to enrich the cultural life of Europe and its surrounding country and to build trust and understanding across communities by generating dialogue and debate. Please visit http://www.britishcouncil.org/greece-arts-and-culture-creative-collaboration-fund.htm and http://www.britishcouncil.org/greece-arts-and-culture-creative-collaboration-the-bar-of-lost-souls.htm for more information.

Direction: Andrew Quick
Text: Andrew Quick, Pete Brooks and the company
Music: Simon Wainwright, Ed Waring, Richard Huxley (version 1), Piotr Woycicki (version 2)
Video: Simon Wainwright, Monica Alcazar and Adam Gregory
Design: Laura Hopkins

The show will be on in Athens and Nicosia in September 2009 and touring the UK in 2010. Go to the tour page for more information.