Lost Atoms
Bristol Old Vic
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

FRANTIC Assembly’s very visual, movement-based, house style dominates Anna Jordan’s play about love as a couple retrace their relationship.

Robbie played by Joe Layton and Jess by Hannah Sinclair Robinson are the odd couple, she the unsuccessful artist living a hedonistic lifestyle of excess, he the strait-laced, socially awkward loner with a bad taste in jumpers.

From the opening scene it is clear that the narrative is a flash back recounted from the two contrasting perspectives starting from an initial, incongruous meeting in a coffee shop.

Humour and sadness are mingled into the mix as their relationship develops pulling in family and friends. Along with the present comes the past and a sense of where the attraction lies beyond the physical. He provides the solidity and sense of stability, she the energetic, carefree spirit.

Much of the first half reminds one of the duet in the film Gigi, “I remember it well,” where the former lovers compare contrasting notes on their shared history but only as Robbie begins to open up about his emotionally damaged past does the play start to explore beyond the figurative honeymoon stage.

The second half continues along this darker vein with their conflicting recollections no longer revealing insignificant, light hearted disparities about their past but insurmountable differences between their needs.

Against designer Simisola Majekodunmi’s ingenious, adaptable wall of brown filing cabinet-style drawers topped by asymmetrical frosted windows, the lovers drag out different memories as they gracefully climb, twist and turn up and down, back through the stages of their relationship.

Julie Blake’s electronic soundscape and Scott Graham’s direction glides from moments of pure dance as the flowing physicality of the lovers spills out across the stage to memorable tableaux such as the interconnected shapes formed by the couple during a night in bed.

The birth and death of a relationship needs an original approach to provide fresh engagement and Jess’s interest in the sexual depictions and historic cultural transformations of fairy stories provides this. Who exactly is the dormant princess needing stirring from a comatosed state and who the adventurous knight in a modern context? Does a relationship need a happy ever after to make it worth celebrating?

Scott Graham allows his talented, hard-working actors to fill the stage with their energy in a seamless production. The progress and pitfalls of their growing relationship are mostly common place but the stylish exploration of their shared and differing memories give this show a distinctive quality. The wall of drawers opening to sounds, costumes and props that colour their time together becomes another player and key feature to the success of the performance.

Although the getting to know you stage of the relationship is too drawn out, giving the impression of style dominating over substance, the latter stages and final conclusions on what they have had and lost make this production much more than just surface gloss. This is another remarkable show to add to Frantic Assembly’s growing canon of work.

Runs until January 24, Bristol Old Vic; then at Lyric Hammersmith until February 28. For tickets and dates see: franticassembly.co.uk