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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Lyn Gardner

Sleep ... Less ... Ness

Sleep ... Less ... Ness, Aurora Nova @ St Stephen's
A tumble through the strange yet familiar world of sleep: Sleep ... Less ... Ness. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod

Those expecting Do-Theatre to deliver something as heady as their 1999 show Hopeless Games may be disappointed, but there is plenty to enjoy in this theatre-dance piece. At its very best it seems much more than just an odyssey through the Alice in Wonderland mysteries of the subconscious; it enters the psyche of the entire Russian nation. In the imagery of imprisonment and hospitals and the way dreams are dusted and tidied away there are echoes of the Soviet treatment of political prisoners, those who dared to dream of a different world.

However, you don't have to read too much into it to enjoy this tumble through the strange yet familiar world of sleep. Do-Theatre's trademark use of projected images on to gauze so that live action and film are seamlessly joined comes into its own in creating a dreamy world where sleep seems like drowning, and sleepers are tossed and turned on their boat-like beds. There is some lovely physical work with the performers drunk on dreams, their limbs rather than words expressing the intoxication. At the end it feels like a half-remembered dream that has been snatched away and dissolved in memory.

· Until August 29. Box office: 0131-558 3853.

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