A BOOK that studies cultural differences against the backdrop of the dying days of the British Raj is being brought to vibrant life in Dorset's leading arts centre next week.

In EM Forster's A Passage to India, a young English woman, Adela Quested, moves to the Indian town of Chandrapore to marry the local magistrate there and soon gets embroiled in the conflicts and protocols that separate the white, Muslim and Hindu enclaves.

Events escalate after a trip to some nearby caves where she claims she was assaulted by a young doctor. Her allegations divide the communities and no one's life is the same again.

Now A Passage to India is being brought to the stage at the Lighthouse in Poole by the Shared Experience theatre company under the auspices of world-renowned director Nancy Meckler.

One of the main themes running through A Passage to India is the fact that people from different cultures are separated by a chasm that remains unbridgeable, no matter how hard they try.

The play's director believes that if that notion was being discussed when the book was written, in 1924, is so much more relevant now, 80 years later.

Nancy explains: "When I re-read the book I realised that Godbole, the old professor who acts as our narrator, is the only Hindu character and all the other Indians are Muslim.

"Because they are Muslim and there is that element of racial tension and lack of understanding, it made us realise how relevant the play still is today. It's all about bringing different cultures together and seeing whether they can be friends and connect properly.

"But there is still no resolution. It's about can one understand other cultures when there is a fear when people are different? People get frightened and turn other cultures in to monsters. In this country we have done it to a certain extent with the illegal immigrants, but in America they are turning Muslims into the monsters, no matter what the individual Muslims are like. It's something 'odd' to them and so they fear it." Shared Experience's adaptation of the play is acted by a British and Indian cast who play characters from their own as well as each other's cultures. It is a move that reaped rich rewards when the play was recently performed to some tough street kids in New York.

"We performed it to a group of tough street kids and they adored it," remembers Nancy. "They said it was interesting and inspiring and we certainly didn't expect that reaction from them, but they were watching a multi-racial cast acting out the play and I think that meant a lot to them."

Although the book is a densely layered work of art, Shared Experience are staging it in a way that is simple but effective, using lights, sound and the actors' movements to create illusions and stage sets.

The company also performs in a way that means their audiences don't need to swot up on the text before taking their seats in the auditorium.

"When we do a play from a book we try and do something that's a play in its own right and doesn't really need the audience to have read the book beforehand," Nancy explains.

"We want it to be self-contained so that the audience doesn't feel they have had to read it."

A Passage to India is at the Lighthouse Poole from Tuesday to Saturday, November 23 to 27. Performances are at 7.30pm with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30. Tickets are £14.50 for evening shows, £9.50 for matinees, available from the box office on 01202 685222.