The Gertrude Show

Puppets Gertrude and Berta exist only as far as their waistlines; from there down, they depend on the limbs of their makers to give them shape. But this is a dependence coloured by dissatisfaction - Gertrude in particular refuses to remain within the boundaries of what a puppet should be. Unfazed by the apparent bodily death on stage of her puppeteer, she manages things for herself, prompting an abrupt reconsideration of who it is that pulls the strings.

While, in itself, the stage presence of the puppeteer's body is nothing startling, The Gertrude Show, performed by Israel's Yael and Revital, sees that presence interrogated, and more interestingly manipulated, not only by the troupe of impertinent puppets, but also by the body itself, by its manifold parts and guises. With puppets formed from fingers and toes, arms and legs, backs and stomachs, the show depends as much for its story on the natural awkwardness of those limbs as it does on their most perfectly choreographed movements. The best moments are unrehearsed - as when a stray foot topples a tiny looking glass, sending a costumed hand into a fit of hysterics.

However, this is truly Gertrude's show, and graceful and enchanting as the opening sequences may be, they seem out of place in a production which draws its strength from the brazen cheek and charm of its leading lady.

Runs tonight at 8 p.m. To book phone 01-2800974