Brighton musician Paul Tibbey won audience acclaim as Dead In The Water made its world debut at the Fringe.

Paul played keyboard as three actors brilliantly put flesh on the bones of the creepy true story of a tramp whose “planted” body was used to deceive Nazi military leaders about invasion plans during the Second World War.

Based on the book and lyrics by Paul and Mark Sims, slick choreography and tight direction by Jemma Evelyn Gould kept the story alive and cleverly maximised a minimalist stage and set at the Old Courtroom.

Versatile Lloyd Ryan Thomas – tripling as the hapless tramp, the body that came alive, and wise cracking Bernie – gave a standout performance. His depiction of Major Martin, the man who never was, gave everyone a clear insight into the man who might have been. Thomas also mirrored, with some great facial expression, the terror of a tramp in the gutter of life imagining his doom.

Witty black-humour songs such as Don’t Take Us To The Seaside and sparkling performances by Sophie Lewis Hughes, as prim Hester, and Francesca Peplow, doubling as a nurse and Pam, ensured enough shafts of light stopped things becoming morbid in this captivating gem.