Leo

Leo (played by multi-talented German performer Tobias Wegner) finds himself trapped in a box room. With a charming innocence, he uses his imagination, his hat, his suitcase and a piece of chalk to ease the anxiety and the tedium. As he does so we see him on a parallel screen in a different gravity; for instance, if the ‘live’ Leo is lying on the floor, head against the wall, the screen Leo is suspended in mid-air.

Wegner and Canadian director Daniel Brière have combined a lovely trick from early cinema, with an ingeniously simple set and a dash of hi-tech animation to create a gorgeously unique show. It is, however, Wegner’s positively virtuosic physical performance that makes the piece. The hilarious, delightful and amazing visual effects depend entirely upon his exceptional skills in clowning, circus gymnastics, drawing and, in a sweet moment, saxophone playing.

The ‘music scene’ – in which Leo’s suitcase becomes a music box, playing a different style of music each times he opens it – epitomises the imaginative comedy of the piece, and gives tremendously free rein to Wegner’s talents.
Leo is a beautiful little candy store of a show. Simply an unmissable Fringe treat.

St George’s West, 226 0000, until 29 Aug (not 24), 8.30pm, £11–£13.50 (£9–£11).