This being a Forkbeard Fantasy production, it is a blend of their trademark, usually engrossing ingredients: animation, puppetry, music, cartoon, film, peculiar gadgets, madcap comedy, and a fascination with melting two imaginative worlds into one. There is also the energy and physicality you'd expect, and a commitment to visual experimentation bordering on overload that has worked so well in the past. But what lets down this romp through issues surrounding climate change is that, dramatically, the individual elements rarely gel, and the writing feels hampered by its vast subject.
The premise is that the Brittonioni brothers, played by Chris and Tim Britton, are on a lecture tour about global warming. This turns out to be a sham - they are flying everywhere, and are nowhere near as carbon efficient as they suggest, despite gadgets such as a hamster-powered teasmade - and it's the chaos of their presentation that occupies the plot. Too much of their slapstick routine is reminiscent of Saturday morning children's television: "Talking of [climate] change," says one Brittonioni to the other, "I'm going to go to the changing room and get changed." This passes for a gag in these parts.
There is no doubt that the company can grab and hold attention through the multimedia layers, and there are several impressive animations, mostly the simpler ones. But there's an unresolved tension between entertainment and education throughout the show, and a message that is woolly at best. Most of all, though, the world of the brothers and their cohorts never convinces. You really need to be able to lose yourself in that illusion, however inventively the rest might be put together.
· Until October 6. Box office: 0117-902 0344. Then touring.
