Smile Off Your Face at The Lowry, 20th – 21st June

Part theatre, part performance art, entirely astounding – Ontroerend Goed's Smile Off Your Face is an intimate and totally different experience.

Every so often a show arrives in Manchester that sets out to challenge all your preconceptions of what theatre might be. Smile Off Your Face is one such show. The audience enters at half-hour intervals, blindfolded and strapped into a wheelchair, and over the course of the next 30 minutes are taken through a range of extraordinary sensory experiences.

This could be a disaster. After all, in today's increasingly individualistic society, it takes a lot to put your trust in anyone – let alone a group of actors you never see. But somehow, Ontroerend Goed's show has left audiences from Edinburgh, where the show debuted in 2007, through to Australia full of wonder and exhilaration. Critics have called the show “disorientating but extraordinary… it leaves you feeling fantastic” (The Times), “The best Fringe show I've tasted, felt, smelt and heard this year” (Scotland on Sunday) and “one of the finest Fringe shows ever” (British Theatre Guide).

So what exactly happens during the show? We'd like to tell you, but we wouldn't want to ruin the experience. You'll just have to book tickets and find out.