[1] The only clue MacMillan gave in order to understand his intentions is a programme note quoting Kahlil Gibran's poem "On Crime and Punishment": ‘[A]s a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree, so the wrongdoer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all’.
The plot references the biblical betrayal story of the Kiss of Judas, which leads directly to the arrest of Jesus and his later crucifixion.
Since the protesting students demanding democratic reforms were taken down by the Chinese army, "in spite of politicians’ assurances that there would be no violence".
Both MacMillan and Elias were inspired not only by Biblical stories of betrayal but also by contemporary events – the violence in Tiananmen Square; the creation of the financial district in Canary Wharf.
Although it is not explicit in the choreography, the woman is physically abused at several points, raped, and eventually murdered by a wider gang.