It’s worth noting upfront that the performance reviewed was a ‘relaxed performance’ designed to be more suitable for neurodivergent audiences, and as a result, very slightly differs in content and in some small aspects of production design from some other performances.
While the programme information about the show cites it as a Hitchcockian love story, it’s more like a Lynchian dreamscape at times. The man stands on the stage and dreams up a beautiful, doll-like woman, who dances and poses in balletic form, through a series of strange and vague, almost fairytale-like scenarios. But who controls the dream: the dreamer or the phantoms?
It’s a beautiful and accomplished piece of physical theatre, at times a miasma of movement, with fragmentary images and vignettes building up and falling away again like sandcastles caught in a wave. But at some points, it’s very unclear what’s happening, and despite the beauty and form on display, it’s equally fair to say that this is foremost and above all a man juggling and a woman enacting ballet poses. That’s not a condemnation, as the skill being displayed is considerable.
The story being told certainly takes turns, and there’s a definite narrative being told here, and if you're in the market for some beauty and something a little fantastical, then this may be right up your street.