The Alchemystorium

Name of company Gomito Productions

Name of show The Alchemystorium

Genre Physical theatre and puppetry

Venue Bedlam Theatre

Date 19 August

From the first moment, when six disembodied hands appeared out of a black box,  to the final one when the woman sees her true love (although the audience do not as he is hidden behind a screen) I was totally transfixed.  This piece was clever, brilliantly performed, sometimes bitter-sweet, endearing and entertaining.  Using physical theatre, musical soundtrack and only sounds (never any actual words) the three performers managed to build a strong bond with the audience and conveyed the simple story lines with clarity and originality.  Although its use of puppetry was excellent, this was not really a children's piece as the themes were quite adult, but anyone of maybe 13+ would enjoy this, and the style of performance would appeal to the older teenagers.  Great artistry and skill from the three very accomplished performers and a visually interesting set.  This piece fully deserved the standing ovation which it received from parts of the audience.

Suitable/ready for rural touring yes

Would you book them yes

Would it be worth pursuing this company to consider work in the future yes

Any other comments although suitable for rural touring, the largish set might present a problem for some of the smaller rural touring venues, and whilst the venue we saw it at had a shallow raked auditorium, most rural touring venues would not benefit from that and therefore some of the work done low down and on the floor during the piece might have been visually lost for some audiences.  However, the piece was so strong that overall this should not deter people from booking it.

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