IF you've read Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code and seen the film starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, and Sir Ian McKellen, you've now got the opportunity to see it brought to life on the stage.

The first-ever stage adaptation of Dan Brown’s thriller, which sold 80 million copies worldwide, tours to the Theatre Royal Bath to Saturday (February 5) and my is it gripping.

Starring Olivier Award-winning Nigel Harman as Professor Robert Langdon, Danny John-Jules as Sir Leigh Teabing and Hannah Rose Caton as Sophie Neveu, this world premiere production is directed by Luke Sheppard.

This production relies heavily on new technology with video design by Andrzej Goulding, and it's put to good use with a mesmerising display of graphics, images and symbols.

They dominate in a flexible and versatile set and costumes designed by David Woodhead, with composition and sound design team by Ben and Max Ringham, and lighting design by Lizzie Powell.

Anyone who has read the novel or seen the film will know the plot: Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre in Paris and Sophie Neveu's grandfather, has been brutally murdered and alongside his body are a series of baffling codes.

The Da Vinci Code follows the pulse-racing journey as symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu, attempt to solve the riddles, leading to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and beyond, deep into the vault of history.

For 2,000 years a secret religious society has closely guarded information that -- should it come to light -- could rock the very foundations of Christianity.

In a breathless race through the streets of France and the UK as well as a French chateau and the French branch of a Swiss bank, Langdon and Neveu must decipher the labyrinthine code before a shocking historical secret is lost forever.

Along the way, they get caught up in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene having had a child together and its descendants still living.

Harman’s performance brings vulnerability and awkwardness to his character, while Caton marks her UK theatrical debut with a captivating on-stage presence.

Danny John-Jules steals his scenes as the disabled Sir Leigh Teabing, obsessive in his desire to uncover the religious secret jealously guarded by the Priory of Sion which he thinks will lead him to the Holy Grail.

Alasdair Buchan gives a sterling performance as Remy, Sir Leigh Teabing's scheming butler, while Joshua Lacey is outstanding as Silas, the self-flagellating Opus Dei monk and hitman who thinks God wants him to commit evil, particularly in his scene with Debra Michaels as Sister Sandrine.

The intensity of the action is helped by having prior knowledge of the plot, but this production is well worth a visit for the staging, design and acting alone.