By Patrick Jackson BBC News Online

The show highlights the unique aspects of Tibetan culture

Other monks may impress with their Gregorian chant, but with Richard Gere as their producer, can they dance, are they up to playing the yak?

The nine Tibetan brothers who took the stage at London's Mermaid Theatre not only danced, sung, drummed and cut the air with a couple of 10-foot horns, but they conjured up a fine pantomime lion and got down to some serious rap.

If we ended up in a place of worship rather than a theatre, no one seemed to mind and the men from the Drepung Loseling Monastery made no bones about it.

Dalai Lama

Bones, mind you, are very much part of the show, but the Dance of the Skeleton Lords, cryptic as it may be, is more Mexican Day of the Dead than Ghost Train.

The show comes with the Dalai Lama's recommendation. He says the show highlights Tibetan culture's unique elements - as well as traditions that link it to other countries.

One number, the Dance of the Black Hat Masters, a kind of Tibetan New Year's Eve ceremony to put the bad behind and usher in the good, was similar to an English Morris dance - but in Hallowe'en costume.

The monks make clear that each performance of temple dance and song on stage is a new offering for world peace.

The pantomime snow lion, who has the audience in raptures as he scratches his ear, licks his fur or rolls about the floor is the Tibetan Buddhist symbol of all living beings.

However, the large shaggy yak who also gets to do a star turn is presumably allowed on stage purely by virtue of being man's best friend, at least in Tibet.

The Mystical Arts of Tibet, co-produced by Richard Gere Productions, appears again at the Mermaid on 21 and 30 June and at Manchester venues on 29 June.