Reviewer: Christine Stanton
Artistic Director: Luke Hallgarten
“Collaborative Community Circus”
4 / 5
The Revel Puck Circus have a mission to make sure their joyful circus performances are accessible to people of all ages from all backgrounds, and their most recent offering ‘The Nose Dive Assembly – Birds of a Feather’ is a great example of this.
The theme relates to ‘birds of a feather flock together’ and the collaboration and unity shown between these wonderful performers matches this purpose to a tee. The group clearly have a tight knit bond as they move together in synchronicity, obviously enjoying the craft that they’ve spent time perfecting. While the circus skills they showcase are big and bold, much of the vibe from the show itself is very stripped back and straightforward, giving a real grassroots community feel to the production. After the acts perform, the cast dismantle and re-set the stage, again signifying the ‘all hands on deck’ approach to their show.
The beginning of the show features an introduction to circus from Imani Vital & Poppy Plowman, where they outline the skills and details that help contribute to the group acrobatic segment – lead by Louis Gift, which is a nice, relaxed informative way of explaining the skill and practice that goes into the act while being performed. Gift expertly balances the talented acrobats as they manouvere into increasingly impressive formations. While much of the acts are traditional peformances you would have seen before such as the cloud swing (Annie Zita Bachman), clown (Arielle Lauzon), straps (Vital), high wire and hair hanging (Plowman) – they are all done with expert precision, alongside a matching soundtrack making their (obviously very difficult) executions look easy!
While all the performances are brilliant to watch – one of the standouts is the cyr wheel (Fiona Thornhill & Thorne Bailey) section, that is absolutely mesmerising for the audience, and utilises the space in a fantastic way as the stage is slowly raised mid performance, creating two dual levels that showcase each performer – a wonderful creative choice. Another must-watch is the teeterboard performance (Sebastian Parker & Emily Lannigan) that completely embodies fun, collaboration and trust from beginning to end. Finally, the wheel of death (Thornhill & Emily Lannigan) closes the show with its gracefully risky finale – an excellent closing act that once again wows the crowd.
Revel Puck Circus really do raise the bar for a family-friendly performance that still shocks, impresses and showcases some fabulous skills. Well worth a visit.
Runs Until 2 June 2024 then continues to tour
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