Aurelia Thierree Photo by Richard Haughton

Have you had the one where you know you need to be somewhere, but you cannot get there? What about the one where everything that should be familiar has taken on a life of its own, becoming weird and unrecognizable? Then there's the one that puts a unique spin on everything you thought about that day, mixing up images and people in ways you could never dream.

But dream you did, and all those wacky scenarios turned a night's sleep into a disjointed series of adventures. All of those fantasies come to life in "Aurelia's Oratorio," a lively little circus showing on the La Jolla Playhouse Mandell Weiss Theatre stage. That's circus as in the very French cirque nouveaux, not as in the American Vargas or Barnum & Bailey.

Created by Aurelia Thierree, the star performer and Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter, and her mother Victoria Thierree, the director and Charlie Chaplin's daughter, this enchanting collection of illusions, delusions and topsy-turvy fusions explores and exploits the reveries and hallucinations that make us question our nighttime thought processes.

From the early tempest in a curtain, where her hammock over a calm sea becomes a spinning, dancing trapeze above an angry red ocean, to the later terpsichore coat dance and conducting her orchestra of clocks, Aurelia is like a bubbling life force that bursts forth in myriad ways. She emerges from a chest of drawers, one limb at a time. She's cradled by a mother goddess and chewed by a frightening lacey gator. She hides behind curtains that come to life and performs for puppets, one of whom is suicidal.

Joining the delightful fray is Jaime Martinez, the featured artist whose gymnastics include a marvelous hand-walking scene and whose energetic tumbling and dancing moves equal and complement those of his stage partner.

This show is 90 minutes of Carl Jung meets Alice in Wonderland, with music that ranges from calliope to cabaret and dance that moves from tango to apache. Clothing comes to life, a mouse drags in a cat and scarves stretch beyond the limits of the stage. Nothing you know is as you know it should be.

And, when it's over, you find that describing this show is as unsatisfying as telling about your wildest dreams. You really have to be there.

"Aurelia's Oratorio" plays on the Mandell Weiss Theatre stage of the La Jolla Playhouse through February 28. Tickets are $25-45. Show times: 7:30 pm Tues-Weds; 8:00 pm Thurs-Sat; 2:00 pm matinees Sat-Sun. Reservations: www.lajollaplayhouse.org or (858) 550-1010.