The Great Tamer could be described as a magic show for the sober humanist. There are no cheap tricks; no rabbits pulled from hats. But there is plenty of illusion. A kind of illusion that finds magic not so much in the mystery of what we don’t see, but in what we do. Through a kind of allegorical refraction, we see bodies on stage – as recognisable as our own – become the site of a choreographic disassembling and reconstruction. It’s as dark as it is beautiful and, more than once, it will make you look twice.

The Great Tamer. Photographs © Julian Mommert

This is the genius of Greek director and designer Dimitris Papaioannou, whose credits include the 2004 Athens Olympic Ceremonies plus a significant repertoire of instantly recognisable stage works. Having originally trained as a painter, Papaioannou’s work is deeply rooted in visual design, creating worlds in which the narrative is told through aesthetics, not words.

His latest work, The Great Tamer, is pitched as a kind of inner excavation for meaning. Through the archaeology of memory, the work attempts to scrape away the filigree of personhood to uncover a shared sense...