Torn @ Tron Theatre, Glasgow

Faux Theatre's Torn has created a unique and imaginative way of portraying the intricacies of heartbreak. The 50-minute performance, which is entirely without dialogue, quickly overcomes any risk of being trite or uninteresting in its examination of such a timeless theme.

The visually stunning set displays the skill of the creative team. The interior of a woman’s house is covered in paper: crumpled and torn, it litters the floor, the surfaces, and overflows from a large bathtub. Silently, actress Francisca Morton interacts with these mounds of paper as she goes about the mundane activity of day-to-day life, and through convincing mime and live Foley effects, conveys both the oppressive and indulgent nature of an existence rooted in emotional debris.

As a metaphor for the inauthentic life that follows divorce or a bad break-up it is clever and compelling, but it also allows the audience to embrace the absurdity of this situation. Humour and despair are conveyed in equal measure by the subtle slapstick approach, and the result feels emotionally genuine.

The purpose of the live Foley artist, who uses an array of everyday objects to create the play’s various sound effects, is unclear. Nevertheless, his ambiguous presence onstage is intriguing in itself. Just as the visual and tactile quality of crumpled paper has a definite sensory appeal, so too does the intense scrutiny of familiar sounds prompted by the Foley technique, adding to the immersive quality of the performance.

All in all, Torn is refreshingly ambitious as a play, and the eagerness of its creators to experiment artistically pays off in the performance.