Brighton Fringe 2026
Between Strands
Pebble Theatre
Genre: Physical Theatre, Solo Show
Venue: The Rotunda Theatre
Festival: Brighton Fringe
Low Down
A young Taiwanese woman is at the memorial service of her grandmother but she is not quite ready for the final goodbye. In this piece of devised physical theatre by Pebble Theatre, a back story unfolds through movement, shadow theatre, and character storytelling.
Review
Between Strands is a contemporary theatre and movement show at Brighton Fringe 2026 about family, memory, and intergenerational bonds. It follows a granddaughter and grandmother through Taiwanese cultural symbolism, using shadow work, gesture, and movement to explore loss, identity, and connection
This is physical theatre delivered, often in a minimal way, and stillness is a virtue. The performer is well trained in stillness, which adds a maturity to the piece. This is a story of a young woman who acquires wisdom, perhaps long before she should, through the experience of losing somebody she loves as much as she lives. Loss, of course, can become unbearable, but we have to bear it, and ritual can make it bearable, even if we are not ready to complete it.
Through physical theatre and storytelling, a relationship unfolds, rises and falls, but rises again because insight can claim the final victory. I do not want to reveal much of the story, but this is at its best when the young woman on stage creates a believable character in the form of a grandmother right in front of us. I was left with a very clear picture of a character who never physically appeared on stage, yet was as present as if the performer herself had physically been there.
A small piece of shadow puppetry was affecting, but would have been more effective with better delineation and clarity, and decisions need to be made about how tightly this needs to be woven into the drama. Currently, some light bleed rendered it less effective, and I think it needs to be slowed down and simply made sharper.
There is comedy here arising from within, and though it might appear that the grandmother portrayed is being caricatured, we soon realise that this is the memory and experience of the young woman, and she has got her grandmother finally tuned in her memory and gives it to us like a lush present overflowing into the audience. I want a grandmother like that, and though I love my own grandparents, there was nothing quite so larger than life as this one, and yet that is the genius here because she is not larger than life; life itself is simply large.
I genuinely do not think there was a dry eye in the house at the end of this beautifully performed, lovingly crafted piece of solo theatre, rooted in physical theatre and vocal storytelling, which were blended together very well.
There is also an innocence here, even as this is rooted in the hard wisdom won by life’s challenges. We learn about a culture that can be different from our Western one and yet one that blends with it, sometimes easily, sometimes not. This is a revealing piece of theatre, one where we can learn not only about a life different from our own, but also about our own lives as we reflect on our own relationships with family, our access to wisdom, and the pain of missing and losing and perhaps refinding. Are we ever ready to let go and close the book? It takes courage, and the moment has to be exactly right, but when it is, it is heartfelt, heartening and even nourishing.
This is an utterly lovely piece of work. Watching it is like encountering nature and not being able to pin it down, but valuing it nevertheless.
Ultimately, this is a work about memory, grief, love and the strange endurance of human connection. Through restraint, humour and emotional honesty, it shows how loss can deepen rather than diminish us. The piece leaves behind not simply sadness, but gratitude, reminding us that those we lose continue living through memory, ritual and storytelling.
