A weekend of unconventional theatre at this venue launched with performances of Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and Behind the Mirror.

Nu Burlesque will do as a description for now, even though these two shows borrowed from a time of old-fashioned theatrecraft, with just a hint of the tease of burlesque, but none of the titillation.

If they entertain and inspire whole new audiences, then you can call them whatever you like.

1927 are a London-based group of cabaret performers whose style, on this showing, hails straight from a time just before movies became talkies

They use neatly-executed and perfectly-timed black and white projections in which they step in and out of the screen action, while narrating cautionary tales of mischievous doings for Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.

It's delightfully outdated and ever so dotty. The charm is sharpened by witty monologues, as they effortlessly conjure up a world where cats meet a cruel end; gingerbread men march on the populace; and a 'granny' plucked from the audience magically endures cruel humiliation on the cinema screen.

Ad Infinitum specialise in a more physical brand of theatre in Behind the Mirror, but again it's a direct throwback to the music hall routine in which two performers reflect eachother's every move before an imaginary mirror.

The twist here is that the reflection turns into a malevolent seducer of a third character.

Remarkably it is a story that can sustain its unalloyed amusement for 50 minutes and has such universal appeal that its nonsense language and sound effects mean you could set it down anywhere on the planet and delight an audience.

World-class theatre in its truest sense.

David Upton