ED2015 5/5 Reviews ED2015 Physical Reviews

The Elephant In The Room (Cirque Le Roux)

By Lucy Diver | Published on Tuesday 11 August 2015

How do you measure a circus show? In gasps. And giggles. There were plenty of both here – and a standing ovation too. Often the missing element can be narrative: pretty pictures, but no story. Cirque Le Roux give us that, in a 1930s film noir love plot. Acrobatics represent fights, seduction techniques and lovemaking, in a deft balancing act between comic, sexy, tender and heartbreaking. Fumbling butler Bouchon, Gatsby-esque Mr Chance, desperate Mr Barick and much put-upon seductress Miss Betty – from these four, two couples and a death. The tension and passion rise, and the physical art gets better and better. Top-quality technical work, the hooks of romance, and a cultivated aesthetic – that’s what gets the gasps.

Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows, until 29 Aug.
tw rating 5/5 | [Lucy Diver]