Not being the greatest fan in the world of live performance, I took a deep breath before I en tered the building, the castle theatre, and prepared myself to be bored, expecting to find it more interesting to watch the audience than the show. Then I got the shock of my life. Wadaiko Inchiro are a group of ten young Japanese men and women using traditional drums with a history going back more than 1500 years. The drums were once used for festivals and religious ceremonies and also as a means of communication during wars. Today they give an ear-blasting performance which punches out rhythms with the power to wind you. They're a welcome relief from the Scottish pipers. Unlike other performances, the best seats are at the back of the house. Not only will your ears be protected from full blast, but you will get a fantastic view of the whole set. On stage are some of the biggest drums you will ever see and a cast wearing red, white and black headscarf. There had been almost no publicity for the show, but the house was full of people desperate, one could only assume, for something a bit different from the unrelenting performances appearing at this world-famous festival. The solid 60-minutes show starts as it means to go on. The drums rumble into fever-pitch action as the ten-strong company strike their sticks with startling control. Their rhythmic frenzy almost immediately drugs you into submission. Trapped inside the beating of the drums, you carried swiftly through warrior war cries to emotional rhapsodies . Not only is this display musically impressive, but the dance is strikingly beautiful. Moving between the enormity of the drums, the slight Japanese characters have complete synchronicity with the flying of their sticks,  which they ceremonially cross and use to command. The biggest drum is played only by Inchiro, the leader of the group. When I ask why this is so, he refuses to admit that he is being precious about this monster of an instrument and says, "When someone else can play it as I do, I will happily move aside." Dressed all in red, he stands before it as thought he is worshipping at an altar; as he raises his sticks to the drum, he touches it sometimes tenderly and sometimes murderously. Inchiro and his drum produce a range of sounds from thunder to the trickle of rain. The writer took a deep breath before entering the building because she  _   .
was excited knew it would be hot in the theatre was nervous was preparing herself to be bored