For Their Own Good by Untied Artists was a direct piece of verbatim theatre using puppetry to tell stories of death through the eyes of two knackermen. Pulling together threads of tales told by people who are close to death every day, For Their Own Good highlighted the necessity to talk about this difficult subject matter and to make plans with your loved ones for the inevitable.

A huge, cleverly mechanical horse dominated the stage at the Brighton Dome Studio Theatre. Jake Oldershaw and Jack Trow expertly brought the puppet to life, hoisting the horse high into the air and placing down the heavy feet with a few shakes of its head. The repeated slaughter of this grand puppet clearly showed the gradual ease and compassion the knackermen found around death.

The performers broke out of the knackermen characters to lift the roofs of tiny houses dotted around the stage, which were beautifully lit by Claire Browne. These fragments, although captivating in their stage craft, were flat and the company could extend the quality of the piece by working on these personas.

For Their Own Good is a thoughtful production; well worth seeing for the moments of magical puppetry and its visceral edge.