Not Until We Are Lost is a beautiful thing. Ockham’s Razor has created a delicate, comtemplative aerial show, which is a hymn to flight and the human body. Performers Alex Harvey, Tina Koch, Charlotte Mooney, Luke Horley and Haike Irina Amelia Stollbrock push themselves to their limits as they soar around Circomedia’s gorgeous space inside an old church.

The piece, which is made up of vignettes exploring what it means to be lost – and found – is at its best when all five of the group scramble and clamber across and above the audience. Having the freedom to wander is lovely; there is none of the fear or irritation that some promenade pieces provoke where you are constantly worrying that you’re missing something. Just look up and you can see the whole thing.

Some of the pieces featuring just two or three performers are less effective, with less exciting choreography that becomes slightly repetitious. However, this is only noticeable because we are so spoiled by the group pieces: when all five performers move together, whether on a frame high above our heads or inside a clear tower, they create something magical. The penultimate piece, where a huge metal frame is turned into a giant swing, has audience and performers alike beaming.

The show is remarkable not only because of the feats of which these five are capable, impressive though they all are, but also because they inject wit and humour into every piece, too. It’s surprisingly funny, and the interactions between the performers are nicely judged – they pull off just the right amount of jokiness and reaction to each other without becoming pantomimic.

The accompanying music, composed by Graham Fitkin and played live by Ruth Wall (harp) and Kate Halsall (piano) is beautiful, too, and provides a satisfying backdrop to the aerial wizardry. There is a small choir interspersed throughout the audience who join in periodically, and their plainsong-esque melodies echo through the church, by turns meancholy and euphoric. You really can’t beat the acoustics at Circomedia.

Without any dialogue, Not Until We Are Lost manages to convey a deep sense of loss, of friendship/kinship, of trust and of joy. Exploring different ways of being lost, conventional narratives about rescue and love are subverted in pleasing ways. The sheer joy that the performers bring to this show is infectious. I defy you not to leave with a smile on your face.

Not Until We Are Lost is at Circomedia in Bristol as part of Mayfest. For more information, visit the Mayfest website.

When Beats ends, it would be easy to describe this monologue as a one-man show. However, this description would be entirely false. The story within the play would not have had the same impact without the hard work of the lighting, video graphic and music controllers who worked in perfect unison throughout the whole hour of the play, making it easy and effortless to slip into the characters’ mindsets and truly understand their emotions.

Kieran Hurley’s portrayal of a handful of characters in one play was completely fantastic. He explored feelings and emotions which we can all relate to and have all experienced, such as fear, anxiety and embarrassment. This made it possible to relate to each character. His own understanding of each person opened up the stereotypical figures within society and finally gave them a voice. For example: the quiet boy, the worrying mother, the proud policeman, the trouble maker up the road and many more in a spectacular fashion.

The broad range of character roles, and the combination of the music and lighting, helped to make you feel as if you were in each setting and environment. The team gave you every possible chance to transport yourself to their world. For example, faster, more energetic scenes featured faster, heavier music, and frantic and energetic lights, encouraging you to imagine yourself as the characters and share their emotions. As the play began, Hurley told the audience “It’s not illegal to imagine, yet.” It can be said that he was encouraging you to make the most of the imagination you have, as the team has done in creating this play. The darkness included after the fast-paced sections helped to intensify the heightened events of the play, making the play seem more dramatic. In these moments of recognition, although it was set in 1994, it was easy to draw comparisons with incidents, figures and attitudes which are still prevalent within our society today.

The period jokes about the mid 90s gathered great appreciation and applause from the audience, but as a teen born in ’95, many of the jokes felt lost on me. However, there were other humorous points, which I could appreciate and relate too. I can completely see that this play was fantastic and I seriously respect the hard work included, but I think this play was not necessarily over attractive for me. I found the intense lighting and music to be a little overwhelming and distracting, making it difficult for me to easily enjoy it all, although it was clearly an amazing piece of work.

Beats was at Bristol Old Vic as part of Mayfest. For more information visit the Mayfest website.

Despite the difficulty of finding the location, this is a play which is definitely worth a long journey. The whole environment and set-up help to build curiosity and interest before the actors even take their place behind their desk, to begin their version of events.

The basic grey environment seemed to fit the grey and deep subject of the show, which was about normality and destruction. The environment seemed to become a part of the words and voices, and make everything feel related. The grey walls and floor were perfect for Zilla as it helped keep the focus on the actors and their words, rather than the set becoming a distraction and allowing the mind to wander. The simplicity of the environment also worked perfectly with the tone of the play and helped to engage the audience as each word echoed around, creating a feeling of interest and subconscious excitement. The echoes allowed each word to linger in the air and be processed by the audience before the sentence was completed, making each word have its own impact and importance. This pace worked well to hook listeners, as you were constantly awaiting the next word before being able to make sense of what you were being told. This made you eager to remain listening, to make sense of and decode the message you were being given.

Engaging with the audience at the beginning and end of the play helped to create a sense of reality, and to remind you that everything that being discussed is apparent in today’s society and relevant to each of us. This is why I think giving each audience member a character  (a Lego person) was such a fantastic idea, as it brought you, as your character, into the fictional city and helped to make it seem more real, extending from a chalk drawing on the floor. The direct language helped you to relate the content to your own life and issues. There was something for everybody to be able to recognise, ensuring everybody would be able to connect and to imagine they too could be a part of this created world. It used the perfect amounts of subtle comedy and just the right amount of seriousness.

I found the continuous drawing as the other actor was speaking to be a little distracting, as I was desperate to know what was being drawn. However, the end result was fantastic and the perfect way to close the play, as the re-involving of the audience helped to bring the story through a full circle. This play was different from anything I have ever seen, but hugely interesting. I would advise any serious theatre fans to attend the other two parts whilst they have the chance.

Zilla is part of Mayfest in Bristol. Visit the Mayfest website for details of Parts 2&3. 

Ever heard Grendel sing the blues? Seen an academic transform into a dragon? Or heard Beowulf describe himself as a sexy motherfucker? BBB’s unconventional Beowulf has all of this and more, as it rattles through one of the most famous epic poems of all time. It’s a riot of musical styles and silliness, managing to stage epic battles and tender moments with equal aplomb. Using the whole space of Bristol’s Trinity Arts Centre, we get monsters and men leaping about the hall, followed by musicians and creating nothing short of mayhem.

Presented as an academic lecture on Beowulf (brandishing Seamus Heaney’s translation), BBB’s production swiftly descends into a rock-based song cycle telling the story of our eponymous hero. The talented band are as at home with the mellow ballads as with the storming numbers, although, as ever, the devil gets all the best tunes. Composer Dave Molloy offers us a nice mix of styles, although the big, brass-heavy numbers are the most fun. The band are fabulous, especially Mario Maggio on clarinet and Pete Wise on drums.

Rod Hipskin’s Grendel is excellent – cocky as he nonchalently leaps about the Trinity Centre, taunting Jason Craig’s stolid Beowulf – and having some tender moments with his monstrous mum (Jessica Jelliffe). All of the cast have lovely voices, and the close-harmony work sends shivers down the spine. The sound levels aren’t always perfect which sometimes makes it difficult to hear all of the words – the singers are often drowned out by the drums, guitars and brass. We get the gist, though, thanks to Jason Craig’s witty script. I think there’s an assumption that the audience will know the rough story, but this sprint through Beowulf is as clear as it is unsubtle. Beowulf himself has something of Blackadder‘s Lord Flashheart about him – all bravado, swagger and stupidity. He is good at ripping the arms off monsters, though, and comes with his own pair of dancing girls as back-up (Anna Ishida and Shaye Troha).

The construct, of three academics arguing about interpretations of the poem, is well done, and when the academics become part of the story it is done with a light touch. For all of its tricks and songs, at its heart this is a bunch of people telling us a story. The show touches on some deeper themes (do we create our own monsters? When is revenge OK?) but only fleetingly; mostly, what we have is riotous, raucous fun.

Beowulf is at the Trinity Arts Centre in Bristol as part of Mayfest until 19 May. For more information and tickets, visit the Mayfest website.