Editors Note: This review is part of theatrebristol.net's second open Mayfest Audience Reviews Project, and the opinions contained are soley those of the author and not those of Theatre Bristol as an organisation, nor should they be attributed as such. For more information about the reviews project contact editor@theatrebristol.net.

'Dream-Work/ Dream-Home' consists of a pair of performances, morning and evening. In both works, the audience members are given a receiver and earphones, and invited to follow a character on a walk around town. The first, Dream-Work by Bodies in Flight, places us in amongst commuters on their way to work. The second, Dream-Home by Spell#7, leads us through another surge of people, this time on their way home.  This is the third collaboration between the two companies, and both pieces continue to explore the rich area of investigation that Bodies in Flight have described as ‘performance work that has at its heart our contemporary, everyday experience of being caught between our physical and psychological selves’ (www.bodiesinflight.co.uk).

These are rich, multi-layered and engaging works. I really enjoyed both shows, each leaving me with so many thoughts, images and ideas. Given the brief space and the pressure of time, I can only start to outline some impressions here, and advise you to get yourself down there whilst you still can for the full, rewarding experience:

Initially, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to hear, static, interference, music? Definitely picking up some music now. My attention begins to settle.  Then the man in the raincoat, several feet away, takes from his bag a small microphone and starts to sing quietly along with the music we hear – and instantly my whole experience is transformed.  His soft, resigned voice singing that ‘its too late, its too late now’, the singer somehow manages to blend in completely with his surroundings, whilst providing an accompaniment to the activities of the people milling around us.  His live performance together with the recorded music, starts to blend together what is happening inside my head and what is out in the open.  We are standing between three sets of pedestrian crossings and, as the lights change, people pass to and fro, oblivious to our show, going about their business.  Then we start to hear dialogue, odd words, coming through our earphones. ‘Parmesan… maybe some cheddar cheese… houmous…’.  Across the road, we notice a young man in a suit, and something in his bearing makes us associate the voice with him.  I try looking at other people, a bus driver eating a burger, a man reading the paper at the café kiosk, to see if the voice could be theirs – it isn't, but for moments, it could be. And sometimes during our walk, it feels like having a voice articulating my own inner thoughts, particularly when that voice is observing features of the cityscape that are unfolding before me in real time.

We hear his thoughts… HR business-speak as he peps himself up for today's big presentation… drifting into reverie, reflection… then focused on the future, on getting there and getting it done. A conversation in a coffee shop brings him back to the present moment.  Tom Wainwright is such a warm and likeable performer, we really feel for him – and his ability to improvise in tone with the set text echoes the layering of pre-recorded and live sounds we can hear; for example, waving to the children on a passing ferry, who all wave back at us, delighted. Then a phone call takes him back to the night before: reflections, observations, daydreams intertwine, and all of these processes begin to find expression in movement as well as in words.

Dream-Home brought home to me how far from home Spell#7 are here. Having experienced Dream-Work in the morning, I became conscious of how each of these performances were re-shaping my experience of overlapping spaces. This is very different from works where the sounds you hear are triggered via GPS – so that the sound is associated directly with, and embedded, in a particular geographical place – these works imprint a particular character's narrative through the space. We come close to experiencing the world through their eyes and ears. Both works bring into focus our interdependency and shifting identities as we move around cities, private individuals interacting in the public realm. Together, they communicate a warmth and curiosity about other people that stayed with me and coloured my interactions for the rest of the day.