A man and a woman, very much a couple, sit side by side on two chairs. They are together, but not touching. Perhaps they are even eager to maintain the distance between them. They tip their chairs forwards and backwards and from side to side. The trick is to see how far you can go without toppling into each other, how dangerously far you are prepared to lean. As in any relationship, it is all a question of balance. How far do you sacrifice the self and how far do you maintain your independence?
Diquis Tiquis hail from Costa Rica, and their hour-long piece, the opening performance in this year's London international mime festival, smashes the boundaries between theatre and dance. It is a physically eloquent, emotionally expressive examination of the tensions and pleasures of relationships - fierce, lyrical, sensual and playful, with flashes of sneaky humour. Often it is a question not just of who will get the upper hand but of which person will get the upper chair.
The piece has a highly developed sense of space: at one point the bodies seem to fold, almost melt, into each other, while at others there is a widening gulf, a disconnection. Performers Sandra Trejos and Alejandro Tosatti swim lazily, like fish, and stalk each other as if in a potentially deadly version of blind man's buff. The precision of the work, its absolute pointedness, is very pleasing.
It is definitely a miniature, but there are big issues and emotions lurking in the wrappings: the way sex not only brings us together but also divides us, how love brings out the narcissist in all of us, the difficulty of keeping the balance of power in any relationship. Trejos and Tosatti perform the piece as if they live, breathe and die it every day.
· Ends tonight. Box office: 020-7960 4242.
