Pros: Playful and inventive acrobatics from award winning circus company
Cons: Transitions between set pieces were sometimes meandering, and spoken text got lost in the large tent space. A shifting world of innovative, experimental contemporary circus, performed with humour and style.
Summary
Rating
Excellent
The physical work was technically accomplished, but it was difficult to hear performers speaking in the space, and some transitions seemed pointless. When tiny Swedish flyer Esmeralda Nikolajeff handed the ends of the blue band to people in the front seats, it seemed the audience were about to be involved in something, but it came to nothing – her co-performers interrupted her, and she simply collected back the bands.
Nikolajeff had some stand-out moments, though. To cheers from the audience, she turned circus conventions (almost literally) upside-down by persuading the company’s friendly giant Louis Gift to balance on her shoulders for a brief, edge-of-the-seat demonstration of female power. A beautiful ensemble sequence in which she treated the cyr wheel as a tight rope saw Nikolajeff lifted aloft before swinging and somersaulting on the wheel as if it was her own personal set of monkey bars. There were many of these unexpected and inventive moments where the company created an oddly beautiful, ever-shifting world.
Cyr wheeling from Charlie Wheeller was thrilling, and break dancer Elihu Vazquez was a show stopper, flipping and rolling with such tensile strength you’d be forgiven for thinking he was on a bouncy floor rather than a solid stage. Barely Methodical Troupe are accomplished enough to appear right at home in this stretching, dream-like world. It was fun to drop in and watch them at play.
Director/Deviser: Melissa Ellberger, Ella Robson Guilfoyle and the company
Producer: Di Robson
Box Office: 03333 444 167
Booking Link: www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk
Booking Until: Saturday 25th August (not 8th, 13th, 20th)