Australian circus outfit Circa have made a welcome return to the Norfolk & Norwich Festival with a sinuous and energetic show that barely takes a breath and never makes a wrong turn.
Previous festival shows have focused on balance and poise, or taken a playful cabaret approach, but this year’s Wolf is pure movement. From the outset the 10-strong group invade the stage with rapid-fire acrobatics, often literally hurled across the Spiegeltent by their cast mates.
Some routines are pack-like, animalistically seemingly hunting each other as the show’s titles suggest. Others more resemble a nightclub, with jealous suitors inserting themselves between a couple as they explore each other. They are feral.
We get human pyramids and pretty much every other shape inbetween, and some human shape permutations that I still can’t quite explain. The performers are propelled from the floor on to another’s shoulders, or clamber up another with a lightness that is unbelievable. Waste a second blinking and you’ll miss some astounding, unexpected feat.
Aerial work is uniquely delivered. The performer fights against the straps, jerking to the musical accompaniment as if they are restraints more than accessories to grace. Mounts and dismounts are treated as physical encounters in their own right, not technical interruptions.
In some circus shows you can see the joins. Clear gaps where the performers stop, prepare, act, pause for applause. This is an hour of continuous circus – at times more like dance or gymnastics – and while the title is Wolf the better analogy might be water. It is fluid. Unstoppable.
Go see it before the Spiegeltent is dismantled around them.
- Circa: Wolf continues at the Norwich and Norwich Festival Spiegeltent until Sunday, 24 May, tickets £25-£32.
