It doesn't sound like the most promising of evenings: five friends gathered in a bunker before the end of the world.

But first impressions can be misleading.

Traces, performed by the French-Canadian company The Seven Fingers, is one of the most exuberant piece of theatre you'll see all year.

It's an extraordinary mix of contemporary dance, acrobatics, music and imagination.

It's nothing like a variety show. But then again, it's nothing like anything else either.

The production, part of which was staged at last year's Royal Variety Performance, has stopped off at Hull New Theatre.

And despite the apocalyptic premise, the company's playfulness is evident from the moment you walk into the theatre.

A camera, set up in the foyer, beamed live images of the arriving audience on to the back of the stage.

Some acted up – one person did a forward roll across the carpet, another couple began waltzing.

It was an infectious mood, carried on by the ironic announcements over the tannoy: "Exits are everywhere," the voice intoned. "Because something terrible could happen at any moment."

What did happen was a dazzlingly complex series of choreographed dances and stunts – performed to an eclectic sound-track of rock, dance and jazz.

Staged in a stylishly battered set – including a piano built from packing boxes – the company more than lived up to its name. Taken from a French phrase "The five fingers of the hand" – meaning the way that a series of individual elements make up a whole – the dancers who make up The Seven Fingers meshed together seamlessly.

There was a graceful dance on skateboards – which merged into a series of stunts in which the dancers, one on roller-blades, leapt over one another.

Two Chinese poles at the back of the stage were used for some eye-popping stunts – including the dancers, with their legs wrapped around the pole, plummeting head first towards the stage.

The stand-out sequences saw Antoine Carabinier-Lepine rolling and spinning around the stage inside a Cyr Wheel – imagine a huge hoola-hoop – and a spectacular finale in which the cast leapt, both forwards and backwards, through a tower of hoops.

*Traces is on tonight, 7.30pm, at Hull New Theatre, Kingston Square, Hull. Tickets are £16.50-£22.50, call (01482) 226655