Lonely Hearts, The Knotted Project, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal

Natalie Morrell and Simon McElligott are consummate young professionals in the art of physical theatre.

As The Knotted Project, they staged Lonely Hearts, the perfect platform for their skills and inventiveness as both performers and writers.

They gave a seamless and polished performance as loveable loners Anna and Callum who register with Mr and Mrs Perfect.com, an online dating agency to search for their special someone.

And the way they threaded Anna and Callum and their other quirky characters in and out of the story, with minimal props, felt fresh and totally captivating: Simon absolutely hilarious portraying Aussie Shane; Natalie as glam-puss Nadia, sporting fur coat and sunglasses, equally so.

The story arc of our lovelorn duo was draughtsman-like drawn. No one measures up as their ideal partners - until Anna and Callum themselves finally come face to face.

To start the evening we were treated to an impressive ten minute show put together by the Brewery's Physical Performance 14-plus group, who showed plenty of ability and promise in their own piece Pineapple.

Lonely Hearts was one of the most entertaining and inventive shows I've seen for a long time.

To sum up, I'll leave it to the young voice I overheard when I was leaving the theatre, who said, "How cool was that!"

Precisely.

Adrian Mullen