Komedia, Gardner Street, Brighton, Tuesday to Saturday, May 18-22

Thought only flies could walk up walls? Well, think again.

Not only do theatre group Gecko confound physical expectation but apparently the laws of gravity too.

This is performance for those who crave an adrenaline hit as three men climb to the ceiling, fly through the air and bring dolls and dummies to life as they plumb the depths of male desire in this sweaty, sexy show.

Based around a simple boy-meets-girl story, it's Gecko's visual and physical inventiveness that makes such a gloriously vibrant 50-minute piece out of so slight a premise.

The woman one character yearns after is unattainable - physically so. Strapped into a flying harness, the men are similarly roped up, to emphasise their limitation. They can only move so far towards her before being pulled back to earth or before the elastic contracts again.

But none of this symbolism is allowed to grow heavy for an instant, as the company's playful cleverness keeps things moving from scene to scene at top speed.

Winning awards including Time Out critics' Choice of the Year, Gecko co-founder Amit Lahav puts the group's success down to similarly-minded people from different backgrounds.

He says: "We came together because we wanted to make good theatre, something exciting and certainly something visual and physical rather than word-based. I think theatre is a place for the imagination and dialogue can be limiting."

The group are strongly influenced by film and television.

Amit says: "Good films have a very strong visual impact. In a similar way, we cut quickly from one thing to the next using lights or sound or music to create a specific effect and image."

Gecko's theatrical influences are De La Guarda, Steven Berkoff and David Glass, though Amit thinks they are distinctive because their approach is more dance-based than older companies.

However, pulling it off isn't exactly a breeze.

"It's really physical, athletically physical," says Amit.

"We try to create images using the body and the physical contact of the bodies together. We have to be in really good shape to do that."

louise.ramsay@theargus.co.uk
Komedia, 7.30pm, £6 to £12.50, 01273 647100.