Fairytales are full of promises made, fulfilled and broken, and this modern fairytale from the Pacitti Company - a group lauded in Europe but shamefully ignored by British theatre - begins with a promise. Before entering the theatre, you must sign a contract that binds you not to divulge the contents of the wish you will be asked to make. This is to be taken as seriously as getting a mortgage or taking out a loan.
That is appropriate, because A Forest is about money and magic, the spinning of straw into gold, the lure of the goose that lays the golden egg, contracts with the devil and the terrible prices they exact. Inside the magic circle a heap of money glitters, and the audience of just 30 are taken into the dark forest of the psyche, where greed and avarice lurk in the undergrowth and the only transformations we seek are in our bank balance.
The show offers a metamorphosis - a naked body that becomes a living, growing forest - that is both an agony and an ecstasy. Yet its parts are perhaps greater than the whole. It is full of exquisite moments. I love the confidence it has to take its time, its acute understanding of ritual and the unnerving quality of Sebastian Castagna's extraordinary soundtrack, which weaves its own dark tales of pain and disappointment.
But it doesn't quite all come together. The density of the text is at odds with the traditional simplicity of the fairytale, while the nods to Iraq and the monarchy are too crass. And although it puts the potential for a happy-ever-after ending firmly with the audience through our final wish, the show fails to offer the transformative theatrical experience necessary to help us make a good choice.
· Until September 24. Box office: 08700 600 100.
