The Space Between My Head And My Body

While not quite site-specific theatre, the clammy confines of the Baby Belly venue maintains the bland claustrophobia of air travel effectively. The characters navigate baggage used as improvised scenery, and the ghastly roar of an engine surge is recreated with chilling accuracy. Around this familiar aesthetic is woven a complex narrative of sibling rivalry, young motherhood and transvestism.

This is the first Fringe performance from theatre group Gin In The Tea, and it's a promising debut despite a befuddling chronology and ambivalent message. The plot unfolds on several flights over two decades, and features four actors playing seven characters. New connections are made during these flights, and old ones revisited. As the narrative unfolds, the chronological strategy become increasingly erratic. Disparate time strands take place simultaneously on stage on multiple occasions by the final ten minutes. While an inventive tactic, this does not aid the clarity of an already-complex plot. The overriding leitmotif is the eponymous corporeal lacuna, and the relation between this and the plotting is never quite satisfactorily explained.

Despite these setbacks, some fine performances rescue this play from mediocrity. The script provides the actors with a solid emotional pitch, and, in particular, the estranged twins feuding over their mothers affectations proves memorable viewing. There's some haunting mise-en-scène in the moments of near-catastrophe, with familiar airborne furniture used once again to great effect. There's a bundle of fine ideas here, and with some fine tuning on their execution they should pay dividends as this nascent theatre group matures.