EXCITING, if bizarre, things are afoot in Eastleigh.

These are in the shape of “from scratch” nights.

Immersive event Salon de ShadyJane aimed to create the cultural atmosphere of Paris’ intellectual Left Bank in the 1920s while inviting favourite acts from across the country to perform at The Point.

With performers having to interact with the audience and rely heavily on improv, it is theatre at its most raw and exciting.

Associate artists at The Point, ShadyJane, introduced Nicky Bellenger’s The Bandstand Breakfast Tour, The Galloping Cuckoos’ Hug e Nest and Debbie Lee-Anthony’s On Middle Ground while Maison Foo were mingling with theatre-goers in the guise of The Mobile Library.

After the experimental acts the audience was invited to critique what they had seen and question the people involved.

The innovative pieces started with the hilarious and charismatic Nicky Bellenger in the role of energetic, if slightly hapless and resentful, tour guide Valerie Walker who had to tell tourists the trip they had been expecting had been cancelled and struggled to placate them with a fictitious tour of Eastleigh.

Armed with charm and a powerful personality the solo performer cajoled the majority of her audience into playing an active role in the show telling them: “If it’s rubbish it’s your fault.”

She was definitely one of my highlights.

The audience members were then led to a different auditorium where four women dressed in slightly provocative cuckoo’s costumes in a giant bird cage started to prance and perform before escaping into the audience to stroke and caper with onlookers.

This witty, colourful and well-crafted display was at its best when the protagonists were responding to the audience’s reactions.

Debbie Lee-Anthony’s musings on middle age and the menopause were delivered in the medium of dance and poetry.

Whilst interesting and thought-provoking it seemed strangely out of place and dark after the light nature of other performances.

Maison Foo were also entertaining with their costumes incorporating all kinds of iconic library paraphernalia including the bell and the service desk signs, it would have been enjoyable to see more of this promising double act.