Smash It! review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

Smash It! is the newest show by Circus Oz, a company that has been running since 1978 and considered a leader in the circus arts in Australia. In Smash It!, seven multi-generational performers undertake flips, jumps and tumbles to a live band in a stripped-back production with nowhere to hide.

Ranging in age from early twenties to mid-sixties, each performer (Angelique Ross, Celso March, Debra Batton, Leo Pentland, Mozes Heawood, Sharon Gruenert and Spenser Inwood) is given plenty of opportunities to be the star and to fall into the background and support their fellow artist. The highlight is a rope act that sees Heawood spun around at incredible speeds with a captivating lighting design by Gina Gascoigne.

PHAT CAB CLUB review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Melba Spiegeltent

Performed in the iconic Melba Spiegeltent, PHAT CAB CLUB present a night of remarkably talented young circus artists that give more established ones a run for their money. Set to a lively hip-hop soundtrack, there are a variety of acts on display that showcase the troupe's strength, dexterity and flexibility.

A mesmerising diabolo routine by Jordan Twartz has us gasping at the speed and complexity he achieves and his return for a brief "puppet" double-up with acrobat/dancer Mark Longo is a well-conceived idea and would have loved to see similar pairings reoccur. Hula-hoops are often a staple of circus and easily lose their appeal, but Anna Fisher ensures there are surprises in her number to draw us in and have us excited about what is possible with these objects.

The rest of the ensemble - Antonia Sassine Emily Chilvers, Joe Fisher, Odette Robbins - excel in their various juggling, balancing and contortion. Rhys Davies as MC does well with the self-deprecating humour and his mini-tricks between the main entertainment. However, he does leave you wondering why someone would want to let off a mousetrap on the most sensitive part of his body.

Kilter review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Theatre Works

Finding balance in life is not easy. You want to spend time with friends, but you need to study. You want to have that double chocolate chip ice-cream but you should really go to the gym. It is hard work, and in One Fell Swoop's new circus show, Kilter, the science and ideals behind balance are brilliantly brought to the surface.

Using a never-before seen circus apparatus called a "slackboat", performers Charice Rust and Jonathan Morgan offer a refreshing perspective on what circus can be. The duo take their time as they work through each act, making sure that every piece of equipment or prop is utilised to its full potential, which at one point even includes eating it. It's a tight production that keeps the momentum going throughout with the performers acutely aware of when it is time to move on to something else.

Society review | After Dark Theatre | The Melba Spiegeltent

Circus for adults comes to Melbourne in the form of After Dark Theatre's Society, a circus-cabaret set to the free-spirited vibe of New Orleans. Suitably taking place in the Melba Spiegeltent, there are plenty of acts that delight and impress audiences.

Eight talented artists appear throughout the show and they work extremely well as an ensemble and in supporting each other. The standout routines include Jacinta Rohan with her unsettling contortionism, Mathew Brown's skilful straps numbers and Alyssa Moore impresses the audience with a high-risk performance on the Russian Bar.

Tully Fedorowjtsch is also a highlight with his acts, including the fast spinning of two water-filled bowls and barely sending any drops into the crowd, and his balancing/spinning of a giant cube frame.

A Simple Space review | Gravity & Other Myths | Arts Centre Melbourne

Having seen circus troupe Gravity & Other Myths perform Backbone at Melbourne Festival last year, there was much anticipation about seeing their debut show, A Simple Space, during its return season to Melbourne. While both shows exhibiting incredible creativity and skill, it's the absence of any elaborate concept and design that were present in Backbone that allows A Simple Space to blow you away.

The show is stripped off most props, lighting effects and other elements with only a black mat roughly four metres wide and six metres deep set up on stage. With our attention ultimately glued towards the seven acrobats, they work with the only thing that's left: each other. They demonstrate surprising feats on what the human body is capable of, through a variety of acts. At one point, one performer jumps on bodies lying on the floor, the gap getting bigger and bigger with each successive jump. The highlight though, comes during the 'swinging' act with two people swinging another between them by their hands and feet. The speed and various ways in which this is executed is almost beyond comprehension.

Stripped back circus in "A Simple Space"

Earlier this year contemporary circus company Gravity and Other Myths (GOM) captivated audiences with Backbone, a brand new show presented as part of the Melbourne Festival. The show explored the theme of unity through strength and support with acts that left audiences awestruck by what the human body is capable. Those who missed it, missed out on an exceptionally original circus show, however there is no need to despair for the troupe return to Arts Centre Melbourne in January with A Simple Space. While the show differs greatly to Backbone, it still promises an exciting evening of circus by some of the country's top performers. 

"A Simple Space and Backbone could not look more dissimilar. Backbone can fill huge theatres with 12 performers, a plethora of unusual props, magical lighting states and a haunting score while A Simple Space uses a small stripped back stage, placed as close as possible to the audience with only the simplest of lights run onstage by the acrobats," GOM member Jascha Boyce tells me. "If Backbone is the 30 piece orchestra, A Simple Space is the acoustic soloist. However the rapport between the performers and the playful nature of our work are a constant in both. This style that GOM is known so well for is the string that ties all of our creative endeavours together."

By A Thread review | Gasworks Arts Park

Circus doesn’t come as bare as One Fell Swoop’s By A Thread. Presented at Gasworks Arts Park, the entire show consists of one prop: a 30 metre piece of rope held up by two pulleys. The way in which the rope is used throughout the show, in both a literal sense and a metaphorical one, leaves audiences thoroughly entertained with the opportunity to consider the relationships in their life and what trust means to them. 

The spool of rope is used as a representation of trust; trust that the performers place in each other and the trust that we place in people in our own lives. The seven emerging circus artists (Jonathan Morgan, Charice Rust, Sarah Berrell, Ryan Darwin, Ela Bartilomo, Hamish Norris, and Jordan O’Brien from Melbourne’s National Institute of Circus Arts) completely and utterly depend on each other to execute their routines as they are constantly being flung into the air, spun around and dropping into each other’s arms. 

The ensemble work confidently as a cohesive team who are able to communicate with each other by just a glance and know exactly where each of them are at any given time. Their amusing and playful acts include an imaginative interpretation of pass the parcel and a brilliant see-saw routine that showcases their immense flexibility, agility and strength. There is a strong feeling of innocence and openness flowing throughout the show but there are numerous times where more complex thoughts are explored.

Kooza review | Cirque Du Soleil | Flemington Race Course

Trying to put into words what watching Cirque Du Soleil's Kooza (inspired by the Sanskrit words "koza", meaning "box" or "treasure") is like, is not the easiest thing when you spend the majority of the show absolutely speechless and stunned with the skills and performances of its hugely talented cast. Returning to Melbourne with this brand new show, Cirque Du Soleil dazzles once again as Kooza tells the story of The Innocent as he is transported into a world of surprises in a kingdom inhabited by strange and peculiar people.

The night is a non-stop run of entertainment and wonderment, which includes Mongolian contortionists Sunderiya Jargalsaikhan and Ninjin Altankhuyag twisting their bodies in ways and in speeds you've never seen before that would put The Exorcist to shame. Other performances include an intense double high wire act, a romantic unicycle duo and a chair balancing act that reaches some amazing heights.

However, the award for the most heart-stopping moment I have had in watching a live show would have to go to Jimmy Ibarra and Ronald Solisand with their 700kg Wheel of Death routine. Powered solely by the two Colombians, the huge wheel is rotated and counter-rotated at incredible speeds with leaps, jumps and skips that had everyone on the edge of the seats. A slight stumble from one of the performers sent fear rippling through the audience, reminding us that we are seeing high risk acts where precision timing is key with no room for even the slightest of errors.

Perhaps There Is Hope Yet… review - Melbourne Fringe

Having recently seen Rockie Stone perform in Finucane and Smith's Glory Box and being blown away by her sets, I was very much looking forward to seeing her in Melbourne Fringe show, Perhaps There Is Hope Yet, and it did not disappoint. Along with fellow circus performer Vincent van Berkel and with music by Sam Keevers, it is a wonderfully constructed show that is inspired by climate change and the slow disintegration of our environment.

The stage is littered with a number of glass bottles, a makeshift seesaw and a kinetic sculpture by Callan Morgan that while only acknowledged a few times, has a strong visual presence throughout the show. Initially reminding me of a traditional windmill and later, due to its movements, that of a wind turbine, it keeps the idea of retaining a sustainable environment for the future churning.

Close to the Bone review | Circus Oz | The Melba Spiegeltent

When I go to the circus I often can’t help feeling like a child again as I watch in awe, wonderment and envy at the acts on display. Fortunately for me, these feelings continue to be felt at the Melba Spiegeltent with the current show from Circus Oz, Close To The Bone.

The first thing you notice upon entering is the surprising size of the Spiegeltent. It’s a small and intimate space, which works well from an audience member perspective because no matter where you sit, you can more or less hear the heavy breathing of the performers, see the sweat dripping down their faces, and really see the strength and flexibility on display. These are highly talented professionals who are pushing themselves to their limits, and possibly even further.