Five thousand hardback books were the central focus of the performance Shift, by Reckless Sleepers. The five performers manipulated the books into increasingly complex constructions, whilst simultaneously moving through a series of constantly shifting, increasingly comic fictions. As an audience we were slowly led into this bizarre world of mutating structures and relationships by the company's innate sense of play. It was this sense of play which moved the work away from a solely formal, task-based activity, and allowed us to take a real interest in what the performers were creating, both physically and emotionally. Although some of the situations could have been exploited further to create an even quirkier sense of extremity within the work, the performance still maintained an exciting inner dynamic, making the work engaging and easily watchable. Reckless Sleepers are developing a theatre language of their own which seems to be located within installation, physical theatre and visual humour.