JOHN LAWSON The Australian sensation that is Tap Dogs returned to Norwich Theatre Royal to yet another full house last night as the ultimate macho dance show thundered its way through 75 minutes of total virtuosity.

JOHN LAWSON

The Australian sensation that is Tap Dogs returned to Norwich Theatre Royal to yet another full house last night as the ultimate macho dance show thundered its way through 75 minutes of total virtuosity.

Since its debut at the Sydney Festival in 1995 and its sell-out premiere at Sadler's Wells in the autumn of that same year, Tap Dogs has been almost permanently on tour around the globe with a string of international companies.

If a piece of kit stays still long enough it's going to get tapped on as the flying feet of the sensational sextet go to work. The audience even gets called into play to add a rhythm track or two – and don't sit in the front couple of rows if you expect to stay dry as the boys splash their way through their own take on Singin' in the Rain with a trough full of water.

If you've ever been to the gym you'll know just how exhausting those ladder stepper machines are: this lot tap their way up and down vertical ladders for a full five-minute routine. And check out the upside-down tapping, as one of the team is hoisted 10 feet in the air in a harness to tap on a bar above him. Every routine is rightly greeted with a roar of approval.

Six of the eight members of the latest UK touring company take part in any one show, accompanied on keyboards, guitar, drums and percussion by Mark Whiteman. They're a hardy bunch: Douglas Mills was in the original Sadler's Wells cast and has been with the show ever since and four of the others have done between four and seven years each.

And they are all clearly still having such a great time – go join in the fun!

t Tap Dogs continues until Saturday June 7. Box office: 01603 630000.