Scene: a cabin in an ocean liner. Enter a woman, played by Nola Rae, dressed in knife-pleat kilt, beret and polished shoes – the epitome of Caledonian primness. She takes her few belongings from her vanity case and arranges them neatly in the space, making it her own. Enter a second woman, played by Sally Owen. A walking bundle of shawls and loose bra straps, a Mediterranean widow with heaving bosom and tear-soaked hankie, she is the embodiment of Catholic exuberance and superstition. She festoons the space with a light up Madonna, a salami and black underwear. The battle commences.

And the Ship Sailed On, directed by Argentinian actor/director Carlos Trafic of Grupo Lobo and Dharma Teatro, tells this elemental human story of conflict and compromise, staying firmly within the boundaries of traditional mime. Here is one hour and twenty minutes of theatre beyond words, an exploration of human experience and expression of thought and feeling that is carried by the skill and experience of the performers – a physical, visual and musical portrayal of human foibles and frustrations that uses a range of narrative techniques and performance styles including: object theatre, clowning, comic dance and a visually enchanting dream sequence.

Some purists may feel that the use of a recorded soundtrack takes away from mime and makes it too close to dance; some others, unfortunately, do not understand or appreciate theatre without words. But the overwhelming majority of people at the opening night of the Komedia's Theatre of the Imagination Festival came away delighted to have shared an evening of laughter and tears in such good company.