Acrobatics and physical theatre have a central place in this year’s Norfolk and Norwich Festival, and the premiere outing of Fragile is a strong component in that.
A free outdoor show at the Forum, it attracted big audiences for its surrealist mix of trampolining, tightwire walking and building-morphing oddness.
The performance charts the interactions of some flat-dwellers, and a strange war of attrition over plants on their rooftop that seems to culminate with the vegetation taking on a life of its own.
The hidden trampoline in the rooftop set is a delight and Laura Smith and Mark Pieklo’s expertly choreographed jumps and twists were poetry to watch.
There is some delicate rope work and a manic chase around the roof that has great comic timing but the drama wanes towards the end, with the enchanting stunts giving way to unfathomable metaphor.
Sixty minutes proved too much for some of the audience; with judicious edits this would be a corker.
