I hear an audience member whisper ‘I can’t wait to see this’. Waves of nostalgia for the 90s waft around the buzzing auditorium. Not unlike Bootworks’ take on Terminator 2, it’s a real fondness for this film and a yearning to explore its connotations to growing up in that era that underpin international ensemble Superbolt’s approach to the show. ‘It reminded us of a time when classic films had real meaning, bringing families of all kinds together,’ they say in their programme notes. This passion and tenderness gives birth to a dazzling performance of physical skill, wit, and heartfelt emotion.

In this show, the homage is decidedly dramatic. There is a simple narrative frame: we have arrived at Lyme Regis Community Centre to commemorate the anniversary of character Madeleine Park’s death with a screening of her favourite film – Jurassic Park. Her eager son Noah (Simon Maeder), teenage daughter Jade (Maria Askew) and nerdy ex-husband Terry (Frode Gjerløw) greet us with broad west country accents. When we discover that the VHS has been misplaced from its box and a family feud is on the brink of erupting, Noah is left with no choice but to start acting the film out, encouraging his dad and sister to join in.

We are taken on a journey through the film interspersed with flashbacks of the family’s familiarly dysfunctional life story. The three performers use a magical menagerie of stage techniques, physicality and clever lighting in order to recreate recognisable moments from the film. They do so with such wit, charm and accuracy that the audience erupts into applause on several occasions. The T-rex in pursuit after the famous water-in-a-cup scene is dealt with in particular style as Jade puppeteers a backpack in place of the dinosaur’s jaws whilst being carried atop her father’s back: the image is utterly joyful. Maeder’s depiction of gamekeeper Maldoon and Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond are beyond uncanny. He is a breathtakingly likeable performer, the audience hang on his every move, a joy to behold. Gjerløw and Askew slip between characters and mime with equal ease. This company clearly enjoy working together and their energy is infectious.

The most satisfying aspect however, is the story developed by the company to frame their homage: a bereaved and broken family, trying to come to terms with who they are and how they can function. As we progressively move backwards through their memories, the performances from this cast create an amazing study of familial dynamics with such brilliant attention to detail that I am as impressed with their characterisation and emotional intent as I am with their stage skill. The audience laugh loudly and often with recognition. ‘How was school’ today?’ asks Dad. ‘I dunno, how was being a loser,’ replies surly teenage daughter. The image of the dying triceratops in the film is gently melted into the hospital room of the dying mother and a real moment of poignancy is found and transposed into a song on a ukulele. Not to make this a sickeningly sweet bit of emotional cliché is near-on impossible, but this cast have us in the palm of their hands and manage to carry us with them.

Superbolt’s members completed the two year training at the Lecoq school in Paris. The school runs an exercise in which a company must act out an epic story, usually a film, on a platform of around six foot by two foot, creating large scale images in miniature with hands and body parts, shifting perspective and drawing out scenic elements with the eyes and fingers. I have seen these done before with super-smart skill, imagination, and precision, but here Superbolt have made a show where they have used their training to serve a larger narrative, creating their own unique style. This is a mesmerisingly intelligent company with beautiful complicity and a warmth that will engulf many audiences to come. I shall be following their next moves with great excitement.