CPT's resident company, Bare Faced Cheek, set the tone for the festival with a double bill which showcased their individual and collective talents. Alistair Green gave a bravura performance in his one-man show, an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's short story, The Magistrate. Clearly influenced by Steven Berkoff, Green brought his physically confrontational style to this macabre tale about a magistrate who acquires an unquenchable thirst for blood. In contrast, Lynne Kenrick directed performers from the company in Alex Mermikides' charming physical comedy, Manners and Men. This light and frothy piece provided an excellent vehicle for the company to display its comic talents.

Continuing in the comic vein, Hop Theatre brought their exaggerated 'cartoon theatre' style to Are You Me?. With a theme similar to both Hoipolloi Theatre's Dead on the Ground and Commotion's Get Out of Here, Hop Theatre's show is about an angel who descends from heaven to sort out the mess that a couple of East End geezers have made of their lives. The tale is expounded energetically, with plenty of big gestures, pratfalls and double-takes.

The festival is not all laughs though. Bare Feat Physical Theatre presented Reindeer Spirit, a work in progress based on the life of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Performed by Alexandra Hingst the piece is a stylish and poetic work presented in a double-bill alongside Yuku Yamanaka's Bolero. Trained in Kabuki dance and Butoh, Yamanaka brought her subtle movement style and quiet sophistication to a performance in which words could be read through the body. Other highlights of the festival included: Cartoon de Salvo, Danny Schlesinger and Dave Dave, Para Active, So Sorry, The Beatrice Nicholson Company and Spinback.