An Air Balloon Across Antarctica

So what sort of show would this prove to be? A serious look at polar exploration or maybe a fantastical comedy? It does, after all, feature a talking hamster. The answer is both of those and neither.

There are guest appearances by Scott, Shackleton and Amelia Earhart (wrong continent but right height above the Earth) and Caitlin, the balloonist, is a true explorer. But then it's lonely in a balloon so what better way to while away the time than by playing I Spy with your hamster? Mind you, Ham isn't very good at it and, besides, there's the worry about being a lemming trapped inside an obese hamster's body.

Slowly, realisation creeps in that what we are really watching is a play about a relationship. We see Caitlin meet James and their growing closeness. Then we see their growing isolation from each other and watch the gradual revelation of the terrible event that caused the change.

For all its effective quirkiness – the multiple James and Caitlins, the ghostly explorers, the inner turmoils of a hamster – this is actually the story of two people trying to face up to a devastating moment that changed their world.

Claire Glenn is very good as the central Caitlin: she handles the mixture of heroism, humour, love, coldness and despair consummately. Not a man who shows emotion and much happier with plugs and wires than with human relationships, James could be a mega-bore. Paul David-Goddard gives an extraordinary performance, underplaying him in a flat, quiet tone that could become monotonous but never does. It's a portrait of an ordinary, utterly likable man whose pain tears your heart out.

Sophie Lampelis a total joy as Ham – constant companion, narrator, and lamenter of the limited hamster life experience.

I really enjoyed the rich world created here. What surprised me was to find it ultimately a moving, emotional experience, I know it was because my eyes were damp as I left the venue.