Inspired by a true story and fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, Suzanne Andrade’s new show Please Right back is a bold blend of live action and cartoonish projections, with actors mixing it up onstage with animated dogs, parrots, and even a whale!

Stefan Davis stars as the absent creator of a series of fantastical letters to his tweenage daughter Kim (Chardaè Phillips) about how endless wild escapades are keeping him from coming home in time for tea. The presence of a cartoonishly villainous worker (Lara Cowin) and the evasions and tribulations of Kim’s suffering Mum (Jenny Wills) hint loudly at a truth less comfortable, but the fantastical sequences set in Dad’s letters keep the kitchen sink at bay long enough to leave space for hilarious sequences of light-hearted, surrealistic fun in this surprisingly dark story.

Some of the best performances come from the animated actors; a deliciously lugubrious lion is instantly loveable, while the entirely animated little brother (voiced by Patrick Copley) has the easy charm of a fondly remembered childhood tea-time cartoon series. The actors fast-change between roles and musical numbers, in a dizzying array of styles and genres from Disneyish dance numbers to Pet Shop Boys pomp; but the fun is kept firmly in check by the seriousness of the subject matter, which intrudes increasingly as the show moves into the second half.

Theatre Company 1927 blend live action with back projected movies, meaning that an animated cat or hamster can create a moment of comedy gold, or a chase scene or fight can drift between animated and live action. This creates a story in a constant flux and uncertainty, but one which can also mine fondly-remembered past tropes that range from silent movie melodrama to contemporary late-night surrealist comedy, creating a fantastical mix of visual delights.