Presented by the Bristol-based Pickled Image, Houdini's Suitcase is part drama, part dramatic puppet show, presenting a story of a magician's life and loves. It's a large canvas for a 55-minute piece, especially considering it also touches on war, the loss of loved ones and childhood trauma.

However, it was far from an oppressive experience. The central character of Malmouth the Magnificent is an ageing magician. We first see him at a railway station, surrounded by his luggage, signifying a whole lifetime of memories and experience. He starts performing magic tricks for an invisible audience, but then is reminded of his days in the business, and the stage comes alive with the sights and sounds of a bygone age.

Although it is elegiac in tone (the main character being particularly evocative of the heartbreak of Charlie Chaplin's ageing entertainer in one of his later films, Limelight), there is plenty else on offer. It is very much concerned with little touches and details; there is the macabre spectre of the King of Pain, entertaining the audience with his acts of horrifying self-mutilation, an uncomfortably rotund trapeze artist and a grotesque, almost salivating, ringmaster (pictured). It's these, and several other touches, which will entertain older children, as well as the parents.

It was a remarkably satisfying experience. Although the lack of a traditional structure impeded the flow of the show somewhat, this was more than made up for by the show's sustained, and resolved, ambition. The amount of ground it covers is brave, but the risk pays off to produce a panoply of resonances. It's served in a gorgeous package; the simple but effective set, the beautifully rendered and handled puppets and the use of sound and music does not gild the lily, and is tasteful and effective.

Although the darker and more adult nature of the show would not have been suitable for younger children, this performance was otherwise something for all ages. This was svelte, beguiling, intensely imaginative theatre.