Mortal Engine

When this strikingly original show is good it is very, very good ' but when it's bad it certainly verges on horrid.

An Australian work that premiered in Sydney at the beginning of the year, it combines dance, sound and light with digital technology to frequently startling effect.

A wonderfully athletic cast of six dancers perform on a set dominated by a stage tilted at such an angle that it has to be covered in a special coating. They frequently appear to slip and tumble down the steep incline, but in fact every movement is tightly controlled.

Lights pulse around their bodies, sounds are triggered by their movements and in one particularly arresting sequence sinister black particles alternately emanate from and then dart towards them. Sounds and movements bring to mind scuttling insects, then cells under a microscope, then the electricity between a pair of lovers.

Instead of music the dancers perform to the crackle of static and other digitally-generated sounds including a crispy squelching noise and what sounded like claps of thunder. It's generally not a pleasant soundtrack to listen to, and when it is combined with prolonged projections of geometric shapes rather than dancers, Mortal Engine tries the patience.

For the most part, the use of technology frames the skilful movements of the dancers ' occasionally, however, it is allowed to dominate. Towards the end the use of a green light briefly creates the mesmerising effect of a dancer suspended in mid air, but this is followed by several more minutes of strobe lighting that leaves the performers in the shadows.

This is a show with some flashes of brilliance, both literally and metaphorically. It's exciting to think how some of its techniques could be incorporated into contemporary dance in future, but the show itself leaves you wishing for a little less trickery, and a little more dancing.