Written and Directed by Mia Jerome

We’ve got a job to do folks: and it might just be the most important one we undertake this Festival season.

You see one of the new apprentices, Perry (Simon Maeder), at the Lost Lending Library, has gone and done the unthinkable: he’s lost the ruddy thing. But to be fair to them, the library isn’t a physical location, but rather a fleeting and consistently moving manifestation of the world’s literature, stories, and ideas.

Punchdrunk Enrichment’s usual sense of magic is here in aplomb, though we need to sniff it out a touch more than usual. With the library bouncing around the world, scattering clues across the ground floor of the Church Hill Theatre space, young audiences are tasked with compiling the pieces of a brand-new tale. One which might tempt the library back into Edinburgh.

Much of the success hinges on the storytelling mechanics and interactions Maeder will have with the audience but does a sterling job to elaborate on the solid ideas and an even more deft job and sidestepping the less ahem helpful suggestions. But the construction of the tale is effective, and everyone in the group has a fair chance to share and build upon the foundations set.

Bubbling, smoking, and apparating – small illusionary feats of magic keep the production from feeling a touch ordinary. Gradually, as the riddles are solved and the show takes on a mild escape room vibe the finale approaches, and the traditional and expectant majesty of Punchdrunk emerges from the unlikeliest of places.

A visual phantasmagorical, the space we find ourselves within is designed by Kate Rigby to reflect the library many will conjure in their minds: hectic, yet oddly calming. Chaotic but neatly arranged. Littered with small figures and trinkets from times long gone, and a suspicious little cabinet of curios for ‘New Stories’ – the excitement bubbles as a new host takes over duties, for one final tale, a gorgeously composed and recited interpretation of Anasi, of spiders, and of the world deep below the bathtub drain. It’s just a shame that much of the time is spent with the performance, and none to allow audiences the opportunity to dig a little.

Equally, whilst the meritorious decisions and ambitions are plain to see, the lack of narrative and depth of narrative surrounding elements outside of the audience’s involvement brings down the show for older audiences, by which we mean those closer to the 10+ range the show still claims to cater for. Though plenty will be engrossed by it all, and find joy in the whimsy and guided elements of the show – a show which never pushes any boundaries, complacent is remaining a safe and secure environment of enjoyment.