Showing @ Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh until Sun 18 Aug @ 20:00

Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, director, choreographer, film-maker and performance artist. She is also officially a genius, as recognised by the MacArthur Fellowship. For her latest work, she explores the role of humans as intermediaries between heaven and earth.

On Behalf of Nature is a meditative performance, a combination of movement and dance with music and of course those famous vocals. Monk’s development of techniques for vocal music are considered groundbreaking, and this performance amply demonstrates why. The effects the singers create with the simplest of syllables sung and spoken, swooping and looping in intricate patterns, is almost impossible to describe. It can be difficult to tell which sounds are created by the range of exotic instruments onstage and which by the singers as they meld into one glorious, soaring whole.

But this work is not just about the music, the voices go hand in hand with movement as the performers do not so much mimic as evoke birds, trees, rushing waves, industrious bees. They are undeniably graceful and there are some moments of visual magic, but at times the dance veers uncomfortably close to ridiculous images more associated with the negative stereotypes of performance art.

It is also an experiment in bricolage or repurposing – costumes are recycled from the performers’ wardrobes, sections of the music are recycled from Monk’s previous work. It’s an interesting concept, but unlikely to make up for the environmental damage caused by touring the production. The use of video towards the end also feels rather heavy-handed in its use of giant images of nature to hammer home the show’s message.

Monk is unquestionably a pioneer who will go down in history as a musical and artistic innovator. On Behalf of Nature is a monumental work but how much you enjoy it will very much depend on how comfortable you are with the avant-garde.

Showing as part of the Edinburgh International Festival 2013