GAGGLEBABBLE takes the Tales of the Unexpected genre that the company explored during the Roald Dahl’s celebration to create Double Vision, a twisted story looking at what we see and how we see it.

While it is pretty easy to work out what the denouement of the story will be - we can see it coming - to some extent it does not matter as it is how the central character Serena discovers this, and the secrets of her dedicated friend the cocktail waitress Mel played by Mared Jarman, that is the fun.

Also playing with vision is the use of silhouettes with the players moving behind a screen (which is also part of the 50s cinema experience employed by the show) and this also enable the small cast to create a rick array of characters. This is also a success for lighting and vision designer Joshua Pharo.

The mystery is set on a cruise ship where Serena, who has lost her sight, is beautiful cabaret singer and indeed Lisa Jên Brown sings the torch songs exquisitely and it is the first half of the show, with more of the cabaret scenes, that are most enjoyable.

There are fun caricature personalities on the ship, equally fun puppetry and little macabre shockers along the way, but the work is made special by the score and the signing.

Joining Lisa Jên Brown realising Lucy River’s composition, is the composer herself with Hannah McPake and Francois Pandolfo with the band musicians Mark O’Connor and Paul Jones.

By Mike Smith