Set Fire to Everything! (Henham Park, Latitude Festival)

It had just stopped raining yesterday when RashDash Theatre’s box-like set opened up in the middle of the festival area known as Pandora’s Playground. What emerged was surprising: a three-piece band, plus singer and dancer (the company’s founders, Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen), all eccentrically dressed and ready to entertain.

The show that followed was part gig, part dance performance, part live art, all of it a commentary on the malaise of modern life. Songs about ‘to do’ lists, sat nav and domestic duties were performed with great gusto, Greenland and Goalen cavorting around the stage as two characters intent on thwarting each others’ aims. The mood was slapstick meets cabaret and both performers, as well as the band – sporting hats made of lampshades – showed real commitment to the loose storyline (such as it was).

The pots and pans samba number was a highlight, and I only wish I’d been able to see more of the elaborate staged fight/dance routine that marked the climax of the show. Inventive festival fair from this Leeds-based theatre troupe – just the thing to kick off the evening.