A decade has passed since the last time I attended Glastonbury. It seems some things never change, however. In 2004 England had just been knocked out of a major football tournament and concerns were being expressed that the festival had lost its cutting edge.
In recent times Islamophobia has started to creep into art and theatre, including pieces by artists who have previously produced progressive and pioneering work. This is part of a corrosive trend that has led to some mainstream liberal commentators to pander to anti-Muslim racism.
From the 1980s onwards Australian-born choreographer Lloyd Newson, with his physical theatre company DV8, has created groundbreaking work. He has challenged the boundaries of dance, both in form and in content, and made work that was both overtly political and artistically cutting-edge.
Artistic collaborations promise so much, but so often fail.
Who could forget filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's teaming up with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in the turkey Eyes Wide Shut? Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder singing "Ebony and Ivory" also springs to mind.
Sutra is a different kind of collaboration altogether. It brings together Buddhist warrior monks from the Shaolin Temple in China, British sculptor Anthony Gormley, Moroccan/Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Polish composer Szymon Brzóska.
