Murmurs, Queen Elizabeth Hall - review

Evanescence is the recurring theme of Aurélia Thierrée's new show, and bubble-wrap is its ruling element, appearing not as protection so much as like the sloughed-off skin of lives left behind.

She first appears popping the stuff, surrounded by packing cases, and pursued by a removals man who is determined to get her signature, through alien worlds accessed by high windows, vanishing doorways and the vistas revealed on succeeding layers of peeling wallpaper.

Devised and directed by Thierrée's mother, Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, Murmurs revels in metamorphoses and double-takes, whether creating a vast bubble-wrap wraith or turning a pair of bellows into the head of a looming, overcoat-wearing woodpecker.

And almost every effect is achieved by simple stage conjuring techniques, as if it were the product of Jean Cocteau and Tommy Cooper.

There is none but the most dreamlike narrative, which exaggerates the occasional longeur, and some of the transformations are telegraphed. But the best of Murmurs, such as the scene where Thierrée, literally, dances on air, makes a seamless cloth out of cheap tricks and real magic.

Until January 2 (0844 875 0074, southbankcentre.co.uk)

Murmurs
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Belvedere Road
South Bank
SE1 8XX