The work of the visual theatre company Told by an Idiot has always had something in common with a particular kind of American short story: homely, whimsical, something gossamer spun on the slightest nod of the head or beady turn of the eye. In A Little Fantasy, the show that celebrates the company's 10th year, Lana and Carol embark on a two-women crime spree to feed their dreams; Bonny falls victim to her fantasies of eating lobster in swanky Kansas with her married lover, Enoch - and the whole town turns out for the Jimmy Cagney lookalike contest.
The absurd and perfectly ordinary sit side by side, Bette Davis's grand screen passion and Bonny's smalltown one; bowling and flying; men in Fair Isle jerseys and a man in a furry gorilla suit, good fortune and ill-luck. It is all illogically logical, quite ridiculous yet entirely matter of fact.
Inspired by the short stories of Flannery O'Connor, a writer whose characters have been described as "wholeheartedly horrible, and almost better than life", the show is its own quirky self from the way it looks - Naomi Wilkinson's design provides a series of wooden steps that somehow evoke the midwest and cater for some terrific visual moments - to the way it is performed with split-second timing.
However, as with almost all devised shows, there are things that probably should never have escaped from the rehearsal room, and the whole thing takes too long to really get into gear.
You leave the theatre not feeling that you have seen the most essential thing ever, but pleased to have spent time with the characters; you seldom laugh aloud (but smile a lot), never cry (but feel a pang of the heart), and find yourself enveloped in a complete world. Theatre is a better place for Told by an Idiot, who show us lives so ordinary that they are lives so much less ordinary.
· Until February 1. Box office: 020-7478 0100.
