Traces is certainly a show with a twist. It was first seen in the UK in 2007 at the Edinburgh Fringe, and is now making an impact on London audiences at Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre. This is a thrilling circus type show from French Canadian company Les 7 Doigts de la Main.

Interestingly a number of art forms are combined – while one performer dances, another draws on a projector screen and a third accompanies on the piano. The energy is buoyed by the music (very well chosen I thought) and the immaculately timed fast lighting changes.

I found the narrative a little disorientating; it is set in a makeshift urban warehouse with five characters living out what they believe could be their final days. This confusion only intensified my experience. The players tell stories about their pasts,  touchingly sharing with us their personal strengths and weaknesses.

The urgency and precision of the show is attention grabbing from start to finish. The five performers excel, leaping across the stage with confidence and gusto. And I was impresed by the acrobatic skills of the young cast (Antoine Carabinier Lepine, Antoine Auger, Genevieve Morin, Philip Rosenberg and Jonathan Casaubon).

Traces has both solo showcases and ensemble pieces, held together with speech and musical numbers. They incorporate a wide variety of circus skills within the show; of these the German wheel and the Chinese poles were my favourite, although there is a real wow-factor from the teeterboard act, where a seesaw-like jumping board is used to hurl one performer high into the air.

Traces continues at The Peacock Theatre in Holborn until 30 October 2010. Book Traces Tickets here

I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from Soap, billed as an acrobatic extravaganza in bathtubs. Why bathtubs? But it worked so well.

Soap is a well-crafted show featuring eight incredibly talented performers, which manages to be in turns breathtaking, funny, joyful, sensual, beautiful and clever.

The format is a series of performance skits incorporating gymnastics, rope work, juggling, clowning, trapeeze, foot juggling (surprisingly cool), opera singing and water, water everywhere.

To offset the precision physicality on display, the action is tied together by a female clown who manages to be cute, naughty and highly amusing without ever becoming annoying or twee – tough to do but she makes it look easy. As do all the performers.

The industrial set – seven bathtubs (six on stage, one on the ceiling), pipes and ship-like funnels – adds to the cutting-edge feel, as does the music at times. At other moments, we get a selection of 50s be-bop (Bobby Darin’s 1958 hit Splish Splash I was Taking A Bath) mixed with classical tunes from a soprano dressed in London’s most glamorous shower curtain.

Meanwhile the acrobats’ top-flight gymnastics were made more difficult (I imagine) but also more thrilling by the presence of H20, either in their tubs or raining from above. On dry land, this show would be impressive. Add water, and it’s nothing short of awe inspiring.

To experience Soap for yourself at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith until 25 April,  buy your Tickets to Soap today ( £20+bf).