This miniature portrait of a girl running away from her troubled mother evokes a lot of short words: rasp, gasp, choke, chalk. Red Leap Theatre's latest devised work is well named - this "dust" show opens in a bleak desert dystopia. Panuelo is a Cinderella urgently cleaning up the ash from her mother's cigar. Spotlights catch sand pouring down from swinging bags; Panuelo cries tears of grit. Although Panuelo has few expressions, Ella Becroft gives her a physical springiness, while Alison Bruce as her mother offers a suitably over-bearing expansiveness. Tom Eason brings a campy comic-relief feel to both nun and ringmaster, and expertly turns into shadow in other, more serious roles. Stage manager Sophie Dowson is also onstage catching sandbags; more could be made of her by directors Julie Nolan and Kate Parker.
The design is mostly low-lit and monochromatic - the garish exception is a cruel freak menagerie that Panuelo stumbles upon. Unusually, it is the excellent soundscape, by Thomas Press, that fills the space, with fairytale circus oom-pah-pah turning into ragged breathing and percussion evocative of the old west.
Costume designer Charlie Baptist cleverly uses crinoline hoops for diverse effects - at one point the skirt of Panuelo's mother throws lace batwing shadows over her daughter.
The plot is simple but reasonably strong (not something that can always be relied upon with physical theatre) and the ending surprises with its pleasing humanity. Still, it feels like the company has not yet discovered all the creative possibilities of the universe they've conjured up out of sand and boxes. Fear in family relationships is a solemn topic, and it is treated with sensitivity, but more play would breathe more life into the work, rather than detracting from it.
