Emotional brief encounter

0 Backup features a beautiful puppet polar bear and baby

snow-covered hill festooned with miniature trees and houses, has lights twinkling and smoke puffing from the chimneys. Along comes an equally tiny campervan containing, we discover later,

three filmmakers on their way to capture footage of the icy landscape.

Playing with perspective and size, the reporters come closer and closer, until three live performers are in the room, jostling for space in the van’s front seat then venturing out into the snow.

To begin with, everything is played for laughs, but when the ground beneath their feet becomes fragile, the mood shifts.

It’s then that the show’s title starts to make sense. The reporters, like the Earth, need a back-up plan – and we all need to back away from our destructive behaviours – before it’s too late, as a large, beautiful puppet polar bear and her baby demonstrate all too clearly. If there’s any flicker of disappointment, it’s that Backup doesn’t stick around for longer.

Although there’s much to be said for the “get in, get out” approach, another ten minutes would allow the story to unfold at a slightly gentler pace – and give us even more creative genius to wonder at.

KELLY APTER

Until 26 August. Tomorrow 10:50am.