The word is that blue's the colour for men to be wearing this summer - and it seems the same goes for Krishna, the Lord of the Universe.

The Mahabharata, now showing at the Oxford Playhouse, is reputed to be the longest, oldest epic poem in the world, telling of a family feud between two groups of rival cousins.

At an archery contest, the brawny hero Arjuna (Marcos James) wins the hand of the beautiful princess Draupadi (Natasha Jayatileke), only to discover he must share her with his four brothers.

Meanwhile, rival Duryodhana (Michael Matus) is scheming how to bring about the brothers' downfall and snare Draupadi for himself. Eventually battle ensues.

This colourful Gita/Sadler's Wells production occasionally delves into mystical realms, with Krishna (Oxford School of Drama graduate Gary Pillai) stopping the wheel of time to deliver cosmic messages to Arjuna, but it is principally a story of passion, plotting and preening.

The cast is multi-ethnic and the story accessible for those outside the Hindu tradition, though I found the programme notes helped on Tuesday's opening night.

Most in the (sizeable) audience were white, but there was a noticeable Asian contingent - rare at the Playhouse, I think it's fair to say.

The production is kept lively not only with some deft choreography by Gauri Sharma Tripathi, but also a funky, Eurasian musical score by Nitin Sawhney, string and flute chords soaring above the drums. Jayatileke's vocals showed she is more than just a pretty face, while Angelo Smimmo's soprano tones were haunting.

At times, the representational style appeared awkward, such as when ceramic pots were used to portray babies. And perhaps director Stuart Wood's decision to give Duryodhana a villainous twitch relied too much on caricature.

However the production was thought provoking - on the way out, I overheard a group discussing the presentation of gods and humanity.

The Mahabharata runs at the Playhouse until Friday.