Continent

There’s something curiously retro about this little piece, from the tight-fitting, slightly shiny suits worn by its performers to the old fashioned world of typewriters and briefcases it conjures up.

Perhaps, as the young Japanese company claim to have been inspired by the Coen Brothers’ 1940s-set film Barton Fink, that shouldn’t have come as a surprise: fans of the noir-y, gory excesses of that film, however, should prepare themselves for something altogether more gentle.

A thinly-stretched plot appears to tell the story of a novelist looking for explanation, and these sequences can lead to slow interludes within what is otherwise a frantic, sweetly silly piece of mime performed by an exceptionally charismatic cast. There are some great slapstick set pieces (mostly taking place within the writer’s own imaginary world), but ultimately not enough to sustain the running time. Letting the cast go freeform might have proved a better showcase for their skills.

C, 0845 260 1234, until 30 Aug (not 16), 7.20pm, £8.50–£10.50 (£5.50–£9.50).