diff --git a/include/mapnik/text/shaping.hpp b/include/mapnik/text/shaping.hpp
index 28cbaccdf..4694c0d4a 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/text/shaping.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/text/shaping.hpp
@@ -3,9 +3,8 @@
 
 //ICU
 #include <unicode/unistr.h>
-class hb_font_t;
-class hb_buffer_t;
-class hb_glyph_info_t;
+#include <unicode/uscript.h>
+#include <harfbuzz/hb.h>
 
 // freetype2
 extern "C"
@@ -24,7 +23,7 @@ public:
     text_shaping(FT_Face face);
     ~text_shaping();
 
-    uint32_t process_text(UnicodeString const& text);
+    uint32_t process_text(UnicodeString const& text, bool rtl, UScriptCode script);
     hb_buffer_t *get_buffer() { return buffer_; }
 
 protected:
diff --git a/src/text/layout.cpp b/src/text/layout.cpp
index 9df7b3a34..3f555421a 100644
--- a/src/text/layout.cpp
+++ b/src/text/layout.cpp
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ void text_layout::shape_text()
         face_ptr face = *(face_set->begin()); //TODO: Implement font sets correctly
         text_shaping shaper(face->get_face()); //TODO: Make this more efficient by caching this object in font_face
 
-        uint32_t bytes = shaper.process_text(itr->str);
+        uint32_t bytes = shaper.process_text(itr->str, itr->rtl == UBIDI_DEFAULT_RTL, itr->script);
         hb_buffer_t *buffer = shaper.get_buffer();
 
         unsigned num_glyphs = hb_buffer_get_length(buffer);
diff --git a/src/text/shaping.cpp b/src/text/shaping.cpp
index b25e93777..c25ffca4f 100644
--- a/src/text/shaping.cpp
+++ b/src/text/shaping.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #define HAVE_FREETYPE
 #include <harfbuzz/hb.h>
 #include <harfbuzz/hb-ft.h>
+#include <harfbuzz/hb-icu.h>
 
 
 namespace mapnik
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ text_shaping::text_shaping(FT_Face face)
       buffer_ (hb_buffer_create()),
       face_(face)
 {
+    hb_buffer_set_unicode_funcs(buffer_, hb_icu_get_unicode_funcs());
     load_font();
 }
 
@@ -29,7 +31,7 @@ text_shaping::~text_shaping()
     hb_font_destroy(font_);
 }
 
-uint32_t text_shaping::process_text(const UnicodeString &text)
+uint32_t text_shaping::process_text(UnicodeString const& text, bool rtl, UScriptCode script)
 {
     if (!font_) return 0;
     hb_buffer_reset(buffer_);
@@ -37,9 +39,9 @@ uint32_t text_shaping::process_text(const UnicodeString &text)
     std::string s;
     text.toUTF8String(s);
     hb_buffer_add_utf8(buffer_, s.c_str(), s.length(), 0, -1);
+    hb_buffer_set_direction(buffer_, rtl?HB_DIRECTION_RTL:HB_DIRECTION_LTR);
+    hb_buffer_set_script(buffer_, hb_icu_script_to_script(script));
 #if 0
-    hb_buffer_set_direction(buffer, hb_direction_from_string (direction, -1));
-    hb_buffer_set_script(buffer, hb_script_from_string (script, -1));
     hb_buffer_set_language(buffer, hb_language_from_string (language, -1));
 #endif
     hb_shape(font_, buffer_, 0 /*features*/, 0 /*num_features*/);