In 2004 Unpacked Theatre found a bunch of discarded suitcases and made their debut show, The Fourth Violin From The Left, in which cast members disappeared into the cases and lights shone magically out.

In 2006 they toured No Obvious Trauma, a piece about mental illness in which every prop was on casters, after finding an old wheelchair on Coldharbour Lane. Last year they came across two abandoned filing cabinets, and so Idyll: A Comic Lament was born.

"The cabinets have a life of their own in the show," says Gilbert Taylor, who is the smallest member of the quintet and has consequently become used to being crammed into small spaces. "We've had to make a few alterations to them to enable a few.special effects. We use them as washing machines, cookers, hearses, coffins, and there's lots of jumping on to and off them."

Prized for their ingenuity, the five core members of Unpacked met and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and have developed a style which fuses physical theatre and new writing with object animation.

No Obvious Trauma, which played at the Nightingale last year and is touring soon, struck critics as both visually dazzling and emotionally haunting. Idyll: A Comic Lament has been developed at the Nightingale and premieres tonight.

"It's about these two estranged brothers who reunite in the family undertaker shop and start to uncover family secrets," explains Taylor. "We've got lots of pairs: two brothers, two filing cabinets, two keys, two tape measures, two top hats."

  • 8pm, £8.50/£6.50, 01273 709709