If you don’t know anything about the work and life of Jorge Luis Borges, don’t worry, neither did I. Idle Motion weave his life, and more specifically his loss of sight in later life, into a beautiful visual narrative combining words, fantasy worlds, love and biography.

Beginning with an introduction to the South American author in the form of a failing power point presentation, the ensemble break into the tale of this man’s interesting life, introducing as well the parallel storyline of a young woman named Sophie. There is so much in this piece, jam-packed with precision puppetry, slick movement, projection and beautiful stage craft, that it is a wonder how the company have managed to generate so much material. At times, I wonder if two shows could have been made here instead of one – nevertheless, this is an inspiring piece of theatre.

Sophie’s story is one of a young woman who loves to read, finds love and in turn loses her sight in the same way that Borges did – an affliction that denies them both the beautiful luxury of literature. Borges’ life is narrated and played out alongside Sophie’s, creating a nice balance between biographical narrative and the emotional investment we feel in Sophie’s character. This company have stage skill in bucket loads: every tiny detail has been considered and carefully crafted; the performances of all are engaging, funny and endearing; and the visuals generated by ensemble movement and object manipulation are delightful. This really is a very talented young company. Their subject matter is certainly interesting and I felt inspired to learn more about Borges. My one slight niggle (and it really was slight – I had a wonderful time at this show) was that the company are perhaps trying to do too much. I hungered for a little more time spent with the fabulous objects and images that they created – perhaps a more mature confidence in their imagery would allow for this. As I mentioned, there were at least two shows worth of material in this piece: the track of blindness and sight could have been a standalone storyline in a piece of sparkling visual theatre, contrasting the simple and enticing images with the dwindling vision of a protagonist. The story of Borges himself is fascinating and well worth telling and some lovely methods of narrating such a man’s story were found. Overall this is a very well crafted, clever and beautiful piece of work that comes highly recommended.

I am certain that with time and further confidence this company have the capacity to carve out their own unique and groundbreaking style of theatre. They have oodles of talent and no end of arresting images; it is perhaps a question of allowing some of these images to breathe and delving into them one at a time. I shall be following with interest.