When two strangers meet on a plane, Visible Fictions present a storytelling dialogue that wanders around questions of luck, destiny, love and death in an entertaining hour that is playful and witty, incorporating object manipulation, scientific investigations and a disarming pair of performers.
The script follows the lives of the strangers: one cursed with misfortune, the other blessed with luck. They both lose their parents, but one is then supported by a rich benefactor while the other struggles with clumsy accidents and a single grandmother. The lucky man wins prizes, finds a job that pays well and has the best dates; the unlucky woman bashes into things, burns her family and eventually kills the love of her life.
When the two actors leap out of the story, they look at the facts behind fortune, while the characters, faced with death, come to realise that their understanding of luck may be wrong. Urging a positive mindset as the best way to get lucky, and detailing two lives with compassionate precision, Visible Fictions create an all-ages show that may be ultimately light and fluffy but shows the potential of two voices, a whiteboard and toys to flesh out a vision of the world.
Up! by Visible Fictions, Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower, until 24 Aug (not 12, 19), 5.40pm