Australian collective Pony Cam have made sparkling lemonade out of the corrosive situation facing artists in this genius piece of physical theatre. Four performers (Claire Bird, Hugo Williams, William Strom and Dominic Weintraub) are warming up on treadmills when we enter. Each treadmill is labelled with a different sign: ‘Survival’, ‘Admin’, ‘Performance’ and ‘Leisure.’ These, says compere/merch seller (and later Berocca waitress) Laura Aldous, describe the challenges the performers have to complete, all the while running on the treadmills (they switch every ten minutes during water breaks, so performers take individual shifts on each station).

Over the course of 40 minutes, collectively they have to cook a three-course meal, (making pasta and tomato sauce from scratch), fill out a Creative Scotland funding application (complete with risk assessment and budget), recreate a performance from each of their pasts, and complete a to-do list of household and leisure tasks, ranging from reading a bedtime story to leg-waxing to picking up dog poo and having a cold beer. The premise is simple; completing the tasks while running is anything but. Added to this the challenge is accumulative: each day the troupe have to beat their personal best in terms of mileage otherwise all audience tickets are offered up for refund. 

It is absolute joyous, absurdist chaos, and the audience are invited to help the performers where they can (and they do, frequently). But at the piece’s core lies serious questions about what we demand from our artists, squeezing more and more juice out of them as we expect them to jump through higher and tighter hoops for decreasing-sized crumbs. Of course, anyone who has had to juggle caring responsibilities with work, socialising and housework will be able to relate. But there is something particularly gratifying about the robust way in which the show de-romanticises the notion of the struggling artist, not with woe but with humour, resourcefulness and a call for collective support. 

Burnout Paradise, Summerhall, until 26 August, 12.05pm; main picture: Darren Gill.