As the dark nights beckon and the temperature falls, it’s oddly comforting to be transported to one of Earth’s coldest places.

Thanks to some over-keen Barbican air-conditioning, we really do start to believe that we’re on a remote Arctic exploration station in the middle of an icy nothingness. Here Told by an Idiot apply their customary playful storytelling style to an intermittently affecting narrative that resounds with echoes of Hansel and Gretel.

Idiot co-founders and co-artistic directors Hayley Carmichael and Paul Hunter have joined forces with director Matthew Dunster to adapt Michel Faber’s short story, telling of the portentously named young twins, Tainto’lilith and Marko’ cain, born to German scientist parents. Carmichael and Hunter, togged up in furry romper suits, not only play both generations of this hardy family but a multitude of Arctic animals too. When the pair lower their hoods at the end, the sweat on their hair speaks eloquently of the immense effort expended.

Nonetheless, things take an excessive amount of time to, well, warm up. For ages it seems as if Carmichael and Hunter will do nothing but race about Naomi Wilkinson’s ingenious and endlessly adaptable snow-look, fur-covered, circular stage — reindeer antlers for a coat rack are a fun touch — and push it in umpteen exhausting rotations.

I felt vicarious motion sickness looming, when the twins’ mother died in mysterious circumstances, forcing the resourceful pair to stop reading their beloved Book of Knowledge and set out on one of those fable-like coming-of-age journeys. Here on in, it’s a lot more interesting.

It would be helpful to get a clearer idea of the difficult parents but the point is that these babes in the ice are largely left to fend for themselves. Bring a scarf and some Stugeron.
Until 5 Dec. Information: 020 7638 8891. www.barbican.org.uk