Dark Tales: The Gantry, tomorrow night

By the admission of it's director this show is grotesque, but not in the way you might expect.

There is no gratuitous sex, violence or bad acting. Instead there is an energetic, exaggerated, humorous yet bleak take on human emotions and aspirations. In short, life in all its gory - writ large.

"It magnifies aspects of people's personalities, making them larger than life but still recognisable," says director Joseph Alford.

"It's three separate stories of people who work in the same office and who all have to overcome something in order to continue their lives," he explains..

Described variously as "like a severe blow to the solar plexis", "mesmerising", "delightfully inventive", and "grotesquely celebratory", theatre O's 3 Dark Tales was the show that won the Edinburgh Fringe Festival's Total Theatre Ward 2,000 for its innovative and skilful use of slapstick comedy, showy dance numbers and acrobatics combined with mime, farce and straight acting.

"It's a contrast between calm and frenetic, there are subtle nuances as well nonsense dialogue and big, pzazzy dance numbers as well as abstract dance," says Joseph.

The young company, who hail from Spain, Australia, England and Scotland, met when they were students of theatre at the prestigious Lecoq school in Paris and set out to present a show that is "unlike anything you've ever seen."

* If you'd like to find out for yourselves, you can see Theatre O at The Gantry tomorrow night at 8pm. For tickets call the box office on 023 8022 9319.