ZENOBIA FROST reviews CIRCA’s sell-out Brisbane show.

The Judith Wright Centre played host to Circa’s self-titled show on March 3^rd, which sold out in record time. The one-night-only performance is a ‘remix’ from favourite shows of the past – often acts I had once seen and was glad to revisit.

The show opens with an elaboration of an act I remember from a couple of years back. The performers leap through the air, crash to the floor, and seem to struggle against gravity – they are creatures learning how to walk, or even fish clambering out of the sea. It’s the perfect beginning. The seven performers make falling elegant; it’s like they’re playing with failure – showing that it, too, can be beautiful.

The troupe performs the kind of acts that make the audience wonder if they really saw what they thought they saw, and if so, how on earth were no tendons torn or bones broken? Highlights included a woman in red stilettos treading all over the body of one of her male colleagues – an interesting comment on the power of women’s fashion; a ‘man tower’ – three men standing on each other’s shoulders; a gent doing a handstand using only two fingers of each hand; another doing a headstand on a trapeze; a performer leaping over three standing men; a woman contorting herself, butt first, through a hoop the size of a cake tin; and a scene in which a red-headed acrobat is tossed around from person to person like a ragdoll. I could go on…

CIRCA performed all the acts we might expect to see at the circus: trapeze, ropes, hula hoops, acrobatics – everything but the lion tamer – but the acrobats aren’t grinning cabaret stars; they are dancers, and when not concentrating on nigh-impossible feats, they are coy, or curious, or quietly surprised by their own strength. The focus is on the acrobatic skills, not so much on jazzing them up, but there are welcome moments of playful comedy – corny dance moves performed with finesse, audience participation, and what can only be called ‘hand puppetry’.

The lighting is worthy of note – the silhouettes cast by the performers are almost as enchanting as the performers themselves. The show’s soundtrack was enjoyable and varied – from industrial electronica to French crooners to Cake – but at times I wanted more cohesion. The musical selections divided the show into very definite acts, even though the acts themselves felt as though each flowed on to the next. In short, CIRCA was seamless, and I think I would have preferred the music to be too. But if that’s my only criticism, this contemporary circus troupe doesn’t have much to worry about. But with sold-out shows worldwide, I don’t think they’ll be worrying any time soon.

JWC’s Artistic Director, Yaron Lifschitz, summed up CIRCA perfectly: “The show is pure physical poetry,” he said.

CIRCA premiered at the Judith Wright Centre on Mar 3 after seasons in Germany, Edinburgh and London, and now zooms straight back to the UK to play a season at the Barbican in London. www.circa.org.au

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