Jewels in a junk heap

The British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham famously advised that there are two things in life that one should never do - one being incest, and the other morris dancing. In this ebullient mythological marathon, both arise in the first 10 minutes, yet neither diminishes the enjoyment of an evening that successfully conjures an ancient world from a junk heap.

At a point when ultra-advanced computer graphics are bringing an Oscar-worthy vitality to JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, it is deeply cheering to see two fire-breathing bulls convincingly recreated with bits of bicycle, cigarettes and some empty paint-pots, and a famous ship built out of two upturned pub-tables and a ladder. There is no sense that the audience is being imaginatively shortchanged - on the contrary, as with all the best Christmas shows, it feels as if the crowd is whirled up into some great game where we're all in the same theatrical joke together.

For those still curious as to where morris dancing and indeed incest come into the story of Jason and the Argonauts, the writers Carl Heap and BAC's outgoing artistic director Tom Morris have opened proceedings at a village fete.

A degree of post-modern irony is evident as we're asked to admire over-sized marrows and morris dancing: yet when Tom Espiner's morris dancer bumps his head, he is whisked from a universe of terminal jam-making to a dream world filled with ancient heroes and life-threatening challenges.

Morris's term as artistic director of the BAC has undoubtedly made it a benchmark for groundbreakingly intelligent physical theatre. Whether it's Hannah Ringham's Hera (one half of mythology's most famous incestuous couple, since her husband is her brother Zeus) flying like an overweight starling on a rope, or two bins, a torch, and a lone finger being transformed into the Argo's passage through the Clashing Rocks, this show's constant mixture of generosity and ingenuity is infectious.

Admittedly, it could lose 10 minutes without tears. Yet a fabulous, idiosyncratic cast make it a colourful and vibrant retelling of the richly complex myth.

Jason And The Argonauts