Tantalus

An early arrival at the International Puppet Festival based in the Lambert Puppet Theatre was Tantalus, a Bristol company with two performers, Rod Burnett and Tanya Landman. It was a fascinating hour of creative skills and novel techniques

The narrative, albeit in a piece without language, opened with a large pink baby doing baby things, from nappy change to first steps. But it tripped, and its head fell eerily off to reveal a smaller, somewhat sinister wooden head beneath. The rest of its outer body was similarly shed, and a lean, jointed figure emerged.

Multiple heads and costumes were conjured up to transform the figure into a schoolboy, a graduate, a guitarplaying hippy, a sculptor, a terrified soldier in war, an elderly veteran, a flogging judge and a study in senility - who fell and reverted to the baby. It was a gripping and quite adult progression of archetypal male life phases.

The stage was a simple table, with the two puppeteers clothed in black and manipulating the puppets by hand. Although they were quite visible, they achieved the puppeteer's Nirvana of virtual invisibility, altogether subsumed into their creations. Sounds and lighting - director Gavin Glover - were a perfect fit in this superior offering.

The International Puppet Festival runs until Sunday. To book phone 01-2801863