Allotments are little pieces of England, every plot as different and distinct as the person who works that dab of earth. In Farnham's allotments, some plots dance with gladioli and boast ramshackle sheds and eccentric scarecrows; others are mathematically laid out puzzles of runner beans and lettuces.
The latest show from Cartoon de Salvo takes place here among the giant sunflowers and, like the allotments, it offers an abundance of earthy delights. Not that there's anything remotely delightful about Cameron, a city slicker with plans to turn the allotments into a snazzy residential development. All he needs is one more signature from allotment holders Icke and his inventor dad, who is constructing a machine in his plot's greenhouse. Icke is so busy protesting against the development, demanding that people "make property history" and "give peas a chance" that he neglects his wife and propels her into the arms of his friend, Tom.
The show is endearingly daft and its raggedness is part of its wayward charm. It sees the magic in the everyday and the extraordinary in lives so ordinary that they are almost invisible. It knows that the broken hearts of the small and insignificant matter as much as the great tragedies and love stories of art and literature.
What might seem flimsy inside a theatre works well outside, and there is something about its unhurried pace that meshes with the patience necessary to be a gardener. It also boasts one of the funniest sex scenes in theatrical history with a garden shed that rocks with passion and spurting watering cans. As dusk falls, dreams and sunflowers wilt. Then wings sprout and, in a fountain of fireworks, hope takes flight. Look up and you might swear that the streak in the night sky is a man, not an aeroplane.
· Until July 23. Box office: 01252 726234. Then at Hawton Road Allotments Newark, August 11-20. Box office: 0115-941 9419.
