The clinical, modern lecture theatre of the Symposium Hall, undoubtedly one of the less atmospheric fringe venues, is rather at odds with the style of this show. But with a few props, the odd waistcoat and a top-hat, SUDS Theatre Company whisks the audience away on an enchanting and thoroughly entertaining theatrical journey.Charging ahead with a mish-mash of irrational sketches, lurching from the hilarious to the creepy, but always deeply rooted in quirkiness, the white-faced cast of four have the audience utterly enthralled. We meet an existentialist marionette with suspicions about the reality of ligaments, a grub coming to terms with its future and a whole host of other surreal characters, played with dry wit and a Kafka-esque sensibility. One particularly memorable scene explores the after-hours shenanigans at an art gallery, where the great works of Botticelli, da Vinci and Munch bicker, flirt and snub each other, provoking raucous laughter in the audience.The second half of the show focuses on the dark tale of Coal Head and Toadstool Mouth, a longer narrative which gives the cast the opportunity to develop the show beyond the throwaway humour of the shorter stories. This is where it gets juicy, with the doll-like movement of the characters and wide-eyed expression of the narrator creating an uncomfortably grotesque, otherworldly atmosphere.This is highly creative, if not innovative, physical storytelling, and the ambitious young ensemble pull it off with panache, taking ownership of the darkly comic folk style with a boldness beyond their years.
