The collaborative work of this enterprising group is ideally showcased in the Body Festival. Its audience is attuned to physical theatre and the boldness of the work seems appropriate for the fringe feeling of the season. Simon van der Sluijs and John Cohen-Du-Four have assembled a strong creative team to stage this piece so that as an entirety it is both challenging and entertaining.

Originally the production was  planned  for 2010, but shaky events overtook the preparations. The wait will have been worth it for Tablo fans – and there was certainly an eager throng for the opening performance.

Mystery and magic are promised for this exploration of ‘the common road we follow in being human’. There is little more specific to offer in terms of a narrative, only a sequence of indelible visual  and aural impressions come to mind, loosely arranged around finding love and comfort in others, joy in  birth and  play before death brings inevitable grief. There are no words, but evocative sound, especially dark cello notes, scores the way.

 There is a hint of structure too in the way the set is handled. This comprises a dozen or so falls of  muslin which are dropped successively as sequences develop and pass. As an echo of or perhaps a comment on the main development, the presence of a clown  shadows the action, but with a more hopeful ending. She is there at the start, offering us tissues or an onion. By the end she has given birth (huge onion) and tweaked down the last of the muslin to reveal – nothing. But wait, what is fluttering in…can it be? A cheeerful onion bird, joined by a whole flock of winged fellows …so bereavement need not be the end of the story.

It’s a loose arrangement but quite stunning in performance and refreshingly original in concept.

Fleur de Thier is responsible for the dynamic movement of the group, itself made up from the Hagley Dance Company. Olli Ricken is the engaging clown, while Nicole Reddington’s cello gives thrilling voice to Kenneth Young’s compositions. Soundscapes, filmed sequences, clever lighting and effective, functional costume all add impact to this production, but two images  in particular linger for me and encapsulate, if that is possible, the essence of this wide ranging set of talent.

Both are there from the beginning and feature again at the end. One is the pale puppet child on a tricycle, following and marvelling at what is happening , lifting an arm, tilting a face in open wonder and finally following the  clown and her miraculous onion flock. The other is a white mask, the other person we all are seeking, floating unattached above the initial scene and weeping endless streamers of crimson at the end. Unerring theatricality which reaches a hand to us and takes us somewhere rather special. 

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