Festival review: Captain KO and the Planet of Rice; Underbelly Cowgate (venue 61)

Dancing Brick just about manage to get away with this ambitious yet frequently baffling new show, combining science fiction, space exploration and dementia.

They’re such delightful performers it’s a pleasure to watch them, whatever they’re doing. It’s never a good sign when a man handing out programmes keenly recommends you study one in detail before taking your seat, but you’ll appreciate things a lot more if you do.

Over three acts, the writer/ performers Valentina Ceschi and Tom Eccleshare show off their talent for visual storytelling and mime. Two space explorers in a hammy, 1960s-style sci-fi drama become trapped on another planet, an older women’s daily routine is caught on repeat, and a cosmonaut is left oblivious to the collapse of the Soviet Union while far from home.

A combination of live action with video design (from Susanne Dietz) draws parallels with the company’s other show, Perle, but doesn’t feel as well integrated – at times it’s less a core part of the story than a distracting backdrop. Previous works 21:13 and 6.0: How Heap and Pebble Took on the World and Won revolved around relationships created between the two performers, but here this gets lost in time and space.

Rating: ***

Until 26 August. Tomorrow 8pm.