No Obvious Trauma

Although No Obvious Trauma lacks a final emotional punch and suffers from some overly mannered acting, Unpacked are mining a profitable seam between physical theatre and scripted drama. The story, slight as it is, is a framework for some cunning stage-craft - the sequence of a train steaming through the night is gorgeous - and the mixture of movement and dialogue allows the narrative to speed along like that midnight express. It tells a story of lost love, medical investigation and pre-World War II psycho-analysis. A doctor believes a patient to be his long-lost beloved, and cures her illness by severely unprofessional conduct. The attempts to investigate the nature of desire and madness are limited, but bursts of puppetry and creative use of props lends the production a DIY charm. No Obvious Trauma has no obvious point: like many young companies, they fail to unearth any depth to their content, yet excel in presentation and imagination. A promising hour, gentle and witty, that bodes well for Unpacked's future,