and Richard Falkner).
In film noir chiaroscuro a mysterious traveller arrives at an airport. His many bags have been flagged as unusual. Does he have anything to declare? Well yes, although he doubts that the border agent will like what’s inside, as this isn’t lost luggage, it’s the luggage of the lost. And there is a catch, there is always a catch …
The first case unfolds to reveal a tiny, illuminated town swathed in a blanket of snow where on a peculiar day strange cloven hoof marks have been found and a preacher has come to a sticky end.
The agent sitting before the x-ray and security screen is not interested in the tales, implacable in checking the contents of the hand luggage. While her two colleagues can be seen slacking off on CCTV, she labours in determining whether matches are inflammable.
Each bag has its own story to tell, from an autocrat slipping away on a train and becoming consumed by the shadowed omen of a bear to a space telescope which can look back in time. Deliberately low-fi, there is fun to be had in the way an old-school overhead projector is transformed into sci-fi tech.
As he works through the pile of suitcases a romantic life story of two hands blossoms in the business class lounge, there is a poetic duplicitous unseen thief and life is shrunk to the size of a suitcase as people are displaced, carrying what they can to escape rising water.
Perhaps there has been an error in his itinerary, but every departure has a schedule, and the opening of the final case will herald an end.
There are catches in the production. One is that these miniature worlds were probably designed for more intimate venues and get a little lost. As does to some extent the arc of the stories which are unpacked in their own fashion rather than as a capsule outfit. There is a thread, but it could be stronger in building to the traveller’s final declaration.
These are deliciously dark campfire tales and bedtime stories ingeniously and inventively told with humour, meticulous craft and a mischievous glint in the eye of the storyteller.
Worth checking in for.
Show times: 1 to 25 August (not 12, 19) at 2.40pm.
Tickets: £17 (£14.50)
Suitability: 12+ (Contains haze, flashing lights and references to death and depictions of violence).