Mind the Gap (Unity, Liverpool)

When you walk into Unity 2, you are made instantly aware that this will not be an ordinary show. There are no seats and no sign of a stage. Instead, you queue behind a yellow line and wait your turn with everyone else for the train to pull into the station. Only then are you allowed to wander onto the tube and take your seat.

Pimento Theatre Company have taken going to the theatre to a new level, where the audience get to be in the centre of the action and where the actors cannot hide.

There are only four performers in this hour long tale, but there are no clues as to whom they are, as we all take our seats next to each other on the train. There is an announcement that due to a power surge the train is stuck and until further notice, we are going nowhere.

There is plenty of rustling of bags, and nervous glances until Nina speaks up, and so the show begins. Gradually the stories of these four individuals are revealed, but not before accusations are made and prejudices are shared.

The experience of actually being on the set and amongst the actors makes you more aware of your surroundings, and as there are only enough seats for twenty or so people you do not feel overwhelmed.

Set designer Samuel Kent has used the width of the stage and has used black curtains to obtain the shape of a train carriage and with good use of sound effects and lighting you really do feel as if you are cocooned inside a tube.

Actors Rik Grayson, Errol Smith, Rachel Worsley and Harki Bhambra do a splendid job, as does writer and director Joe Ward Munrow and writer Ella Carmen Greenhill with their strong script and unique approach to theatre.

Mind the Gap is at Unity until 13 September