For Komedia co-director David Lavender, they are "two of the best shows I've ever seen".

The critics, meanwhile, have revelled in the detailed worlds created by two unique companies whose magic relies on something more than words.

The shows are Teatro Delusio, by the German mask company Familie Floz, and All Wear Bowlers, by New York's silent comics Rainpan 43.

And anyone with an interest in international theatre, or simply a family to entertain, will be making it their business to catch them.

As accessible as they are unusual, these shows exemplify the taste for foreign forms and universal feelings which led Komedia to set up their sister venue Aurora Nova in 2001.

Aimed at providing a showcase on the Edinburgh Fringe for the best international physical theatre and dance, Aurora Nova has already won an astonishing number of awards, including Best Venue 2002 from The Guardian.

Having tested the waters here last year, Komedia are now launching Aurora Nova Touring, taking cherry pickings from their Edinburgh programme from Canterbury Festival to the Hawth in Crawley and stopping off in Brighton along the way.

Starting tonight, Teatro Delusio is an enchantingly thorough take on the shadowy world of "backstage", which blends acting, dancing, acrobatics, slapstick and music.

"For me, Familie Floz are the best masked-work theatre company in the world," says Lavender, "because they don't create archetypes, they create individuals. It's a truly miraculous show, utterly charming and totally beguiling."

Stalwart stage technicians engaged in their own squabbles and struggles, Bob, Bernd and Ivan are separated from the star performers by nothing more than painted scenery.

As a grand and passionate opera is played out on stage, behind the scenes the trio, amidst the muddle and chaos of lights, cables and left over props, are living out their own dramas and dreams.

A must for anyone who saw the company's Ristorante Immortale at Komedia last year, Teatro Delusio sees three male performers take on an incredible 29 roles, including dozens of dancers, the sweating director and a wig-technician obsessed with hairspray.

Later in the month, All Wear Bowlers injects the world of silent comedy with the absurdist humour of Beckett and the inventive trickery of a variety show.

Bursting through a film screen to find themselves unexpectedly in front of a live audience, two Laurel and Hardy-like performers seek to entertain their surprise audience while struggling to reinsert themselves into the film.

  • Komedia, Regent Street, Brighton, until Oct 28, £12-£15, 01273 647100