Double Take is a gorgeous piece of art that explores connection, love and adventure through eight short stories, told without a single word spoken. It encourages you to look closer and delight in the unexpected.

Performed by Julia and Kristin from New York’s Broken Box Mime Theater, this is sixty minutes of pure physical storytelling. Both performers are super polished, performing almost as one. Each of the eight stories is distinct and individual, while still feeling like they’re drawn from the same place.

I’m always amazed at how mime actually works as a storytelling form. Sometimes the performers embody a character, and sometimes they become the world around them. These two switch between those modes so fluidly you barely notice it happening, and yet somehow you always know exactly where you are in the story and how you’re supposed to feel. In the absence of words or sounds from the performers, the soundscape is perfectly chosen to play with and uplift every emotion.

The highlights are genuinely unforgettable. A love story early on that sets the tone perfectly. An adventurous but nervous snail that was revisited between the stories and won all of our hearts. A hilarious and epic journey to “check out the back for my size”. The crowd was small, which is honestly criminal for a show this good, but it was easy to feel that thread of connection between all of us as Julia and Kristen wove their magic. We laughed, we cheered, and during one story in particular, more than a few of us were having a quiet struggle to hold it together. Heads up, if you’ve lived through the difficult experience of a loved one with dementia, bring tissues.

If you’ve never seen mime before, this is where to start. It is beautiful, it is emotional, it is funny, and it’s a quiet reminder that if you look closer, you’ll be able to see more.

Double Take runs at Ayers House from 20 February to 6 March. Tickets at the Adelaide Fringe website here.

5 stars

By Amy Sincock