Tmesis may be the theatrical event of the century, but I can't tell you for sure because from the back rows of BAC's Studio 2 it was impossible to see as much as I'd have liked.
Since most of the action takes place on the floor, surely the first thing any director would do is ensure that the performance can be seen by its audience, particularly when the production is touring to so many different venues. If I'd paid for a ticket I'd have demanded my money back. As it is I feel like organising a whip-round so they can build themselves a platform and show the world what they've got.
What they've got is rarefied but intriguing and errs more towards pure movement than theatre. It's a theme developing at this year's London International Mime Festival, which has a growing body of work that is attempting to show philosophy in motion.
The play is inspired by Aristophanes' speech from Plato's Symposium about the origins of love. Positing the idea that we were once all two-headed, eight limbed creatures, Tmesis depicts the search for love through the ages as the divided self seeks to find its other half.
Watched over by a serene, white-suited God-like figure, Yorgos Karamalegos and Elinor Randle spend most of the evening closely entwined and scuttling around the floor on all eight limbs. One thinks of crabs: the sea creatures, not pubic lice, although the intense intimacy of the whole thing might incline towards the latter.
At its worst it is like wandering into a very advanced yoga class, complete with pan pipes. At its best it feels as pure and beautiful as swallowing a glass of very cold spring water. It is performed with exquisite precision, although not nearly enough emotion or energy for my vulgar tastes.
· Touring nationally from February 4 - April 28, for more details see momentumtheatre.com
