Invoking the futuristic ambiance of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Machines for Living is a bright piece of theatre with an angular monochrome set and great costume designs. With strongly stylised performances, Let Slip, a company of four, welcome us into a gleaming mechanised age. The world is ‘plagued by eyes that do not see’, and its homes for heroes that are needed – architecture fit for man in this civilised age. The house needs to be designed as a machine for living. Via talk of Brutalism, Urbanism and Le Corbusier, we arrive at an architects conference and meet Wendy, a young swinging sixties architect with a passion for concrete (‘concrete is the future, the sky’s the limit, so get in it!’). She meets Roger, a bearded bungalow designer, converts him with her passion for a brave new world, and together they create plans to design ‘streets in the skies’, ultimately fulfilled by the opening of Graceful Towers, their utopian vision. Blue sky thinking for blue sky living, regeneration for a new generation – a city full of clean form.

Yet in reality, corners got cut, cheaper materials were used, windows were made smaller, lifts broke, and no one knew their neighbours. Five years later and there’s cockroaches, graffiti, damp and its attendant respiratory problems, broken heating and broken hearts.

Wendy and Roger were fabulously characterised, and I enjoyed the portrayal of Le Corbusier, and of Community, a woman who responds and shapeshifts according to her environment. She changes with the times, becoming a kind of consciousness for her surroundings.

As a Lecoq trained company Let Slip look good, move well, and create superb fast-moving characterisations. They get to grips with a tricky story – that of the hope for a new way of living gone wrong – grappling with where and how it went wrong, who was responsible, what ideals got corrupted and who got harmed. Were there good, civic intentions behind those tower blocks? Or was it all design for design’s sake? The show concludes with the sound of high rise air and a falling architect. Ending on colour, and future hopes and fresh ideas for the city of tomorrow, a lot is packed into this one hour. I’ve been entertained and had my thoughts provoked via clear-cut vivacious performances and through dialogue that’s both humorous and to the point.