Love gets messy in Puffball: the toys are thrown out of the bath, and there are tears and heartbreak. But the struggle for identity – to connect with other human beings, to love and be loved – is wistful, joyous and tender in a show that is transgressive in many ways, not least in the way it defies all categorisation. A man and a woman perform a breathtaking aerial duet suspended from a bed swinging in the air; a superb static trapeze number is full of hurt and imminent danger. Performer and equipment appear to have a serious grudge against each other.
Full of thorny beauty and mournful jazzy sounds, Puffball has been created by one of theatre's most distinctive talents, Mark Storor, with circus performers and groups of young people from around the UK who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning. For some, the workshop process has clearly been transformative: at one point one of the performers is unwrapped from bandages like a mummy released, or a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. "Take a good look. This is who I am," is the refrain – a moment of both defiance and absurd, touching dignity. At another, a man encased in plastic springs a leak and blood pours from him as if his heart has burst.
Played out on a stage full of images of ladders, baths and cleansing, this is a show that revels in its ugly-beautiful aesthetic and never hurries. The leisurely pace has the benefit of allowing the dreaminess to take hold, so you experience the entire show as if through half-closed eyes. It can be quite spooky: a trampoline, later used for exuberant bouncing, contains a man trapped in its innards.
Puffball raises intriguing questions but outstays its welcome, and the dominant angsty tone makes it feel far longer than 90 minutes. The sheer number of false endings starts to frustrate. Its refusal to yield up its meanings leaves it nibbling on your subconscious like a ravenous mouse, but you can't help wishing it would sometimes open up a little more and let the audience in.
But when it takes off, it really soars: a duet performed by two men on chains is terrific and certainly proves that love hurts; a swinging trapeze sequence is full of unfettered exultation. This stage may be splattered with jelly and water, but what it really brims with is love.
• At Cast, Doncaster, on 1 and 2 May. Box office: 01302 303 959. Then at Royal Exchange, Manchester, 8 and 9 June. Box office: 0161 833 9833.
• Puffball: sexuality under circus's big top
• Puffball review – intriguing, unsettling and joyful
• Naked juggling and hair-hanging: CircusFest 2014 – in pictures
