STOMP at the Apollo Theatre until Sat 14th Oct

The spirit of tap lives on. With its unique blend of percussion and dance, Stomp explores the rhythms of everyday life; audacious, anarchic, and utterly absorbing, it is an experience not to be missed. It is also a difficult piece of theatre to describe. The performers use household objects to create the music that is the heart of the show. No dialogue; no narrative; just a collection of musical set pieces. Some very physical, others very funny; all are imbued with an electric energy that fills the auditorium, and drives the show relentlessly forward. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Stomp is the degree of communication it achieves without resort to speech or the written word. The multilingual road signs littering the urban-industrial set hammer home the fact: language and culture are irrelevant - rhythm is common to us all.

The performers have clearly defined characters - the shy misfit, the mischievous scamp. They trade phrases, and compete for the attentions of the audience. There is an innocent, honest, one-upmanship that can never become aggravated because all the characters are governed by the same rhythm, and must ultimately cooperate. Clown-like, the performers make us complicit in this game. Their quarrelling is never argument, but friendly banter; an in-joke that we are privy to. There is something child-like, and very endearing, about the performers' need to carry the audience along on their journey of rhythmic discovery.

And it is a journey that covers the spectrum of percussive music. There is a piece using only sticks that is very tribal in origin. A much grander section takes techniques from ritual eastern drumming, using two metre, double-ended beaters with plastic drums. There is a beautiful, quiet composition which uses the plastic bottles from water coolers to mimic the resonances of a steel band, and a manic mid-section where two performers swing across the back of the set has all the discipline and intensity of the best speed garage. Stomp is acutely aware of its cultural heritage, and it pays careful tribute.

It also knows where it offers something entirely new. Brooms and Zippo lighters have their own rhythms when used in everyday life. Stomp picks at this, expands it and throws it back at us as something to be celebrated and explored.

From the gentle humour of a barbershop quartet of matchboxes, to the rare joy of total sensory overload, this show offers a unique insight into the rhythms and music that motivate us all. The gleeful destruction of property, perfect foot-tapping fun, and plenty of good, old-fashioned noise. At a time when theatre is trying to creep quietly into our subconscious, Stomp stands up and demands to be heard.

Harry Smith, 10 / 9 / 00