Being handed a synopsis before you've even entered the theatre is not a good sign. But what Graeae's production of Edgar Allan Poe's gothic masterpiece lacks in clarity, it certainly makes up for in atmosphere. If the piece does sometimes confuse, then adaptor Steven Berkoff must share the blame. There is plenty to intrigue in an evening of physical theatre that can hold its head up with the best - a major achievement from a company made up of actors with disabilities. Choreographer Liam Steel, who did such good work on Frantic Assembly's Hymns, also gets credit here.
As Edgar, friend to the doomed Roderick and his sister Madeline, David Toole swings between the spiralled headboard of the wrought iron bed like a restless, legless monkey. It makes you think of prison bars and zoos, as if he is always looking for an escape from that airless, decaying room but can never find one.
What really makes this 70 minutes fascinating is the way Graeae hitches the metaphorical meanings of the story to its own identity as a theatre company. There is something very interesting and extremely unsettling about seeing a tale about degeneration, physical decay and mental disintegration played out on what is effectively a vast sick bed by actors with obvious physical impairments.
The whole point about this evening is its utter physicality. Jenny Sealey piles on the gothic horror to tremendous effect, with lashings of music, scudding storm clouds and white muslin curtains that blow in the wind like ghosts that have been disturbed. But the quiet authority of the performances ensures that this never seems like overkill. At the end you hurry away into the night gasping down the fresh air with relief.
Until February 19. Box office: 0171-582 7680.
