Review: Listed Lido ****

The company – set up two years ago by a group of like-minded drama students – is on a short tour of four art deco lidos.

Sitting by the pool at Ilkley on a perfect summer's evening, the audience were welcomed by the cast of six who performed both around and in the water. The piece has been developed through interviewing people connected with the four lidos – Ipswich, Peterborough, Tooting Bec in south London and Ilkey – where the company are performing this summer. Combining the stories of those people – which span several decades and eras – within a framing device of a group of young offenders arriving to work at the lido as part of their community service, the play works both as engaging entertainment and powerful campaigning rhetoric.

Despite the many funny moments – recollections of how "cooooold" the water was, posing on the diving boards and teenage self-consciousness all feature – the message is clear: we need to save our remaining lidos.

This was reinforced by the fact that the audience was asked to sign a petition on the way out.

Ilkley Lido