Arches Live: Gelatin (Solo) / Update

Gelatin (Solo) performed by Thomas McCulloch, is an intimate study in ritual and the limitations of the human form. McCulloch, clad only in boxer shorts walks in a circle around a line of water bowls, at the end of which are three bottles containing glowing UV liquid, providing the singular source of light in the space.

From time to time, he swigs from the bottles, spits out or lets the liquid trickle down and around him creating a sharp silhouette.The only sounds he makes are panting and slurping- it's ominous, with McCulloch seeming like a feral creature, crouched down, contorting, guarded as though alert to an unseen assailant .The atmosphere is charged, it is impossible not to shiver in response to this hypnotic, erratic, yet utterly precise performance.

Less disturbing, yet still focusing on identity is Update, created by Sarah Bradley, Amy Conway and Kirsty Byers. Performers Byers and Conway are an immensely likeable double act, the former an extrovert brassy woman, the latter more reserved, playfully lampooning the need to created exaggerated online profiles on dating/social networking sites.

The material is episodic, although occasionally a little thin, with the two women drawing out aspects of their disparate personalities which attract and repel to good comedic effect - the more uninhibited their behaviour, the funnier it gets.Ultimately though, the message which most resonates is that in habitually plugging in to social networking, the Facebook generation has lost the sense of what it is to feel truly connected: physical intimacy is just another commodity. [Lorna Irvine]