Acts new to the UK feature in Legenda, the current tour from the Moscow State Circus.
Themed around the story of Rasputin, the show has a mix of traditional and contemporary acts. There is a voice-over narration describing Rasputin’s wanderings, but it would work better if the voice was live and coming from somewhere in the ring.
Showmanship abounds. Soldiers whip off their greatcoats to reveal themselves as jugglers. They are soon creating dazzlingly intricate patterns across the ring.
Anton and Nataliya Popazov’s stunning crossbow act has a neat role reversal, with her eventually firing seven crossbows at the apple on his head. Theirs must be the happiest of marriages. Anton’s skill is such that he can brush balloons into the air with a delicately placed bolt.
Husband and wife clowns Valik and Valerik show classic simplicity and versatility in their work. The former’s antics on the slack wire are a delight.
Elsewhere on the programme the acts are dramatic, colourful, graceful and ever skilful. There is precision in the most basic of movements and that is a key element of the overall showmanship. With the extreme performers the danger is teasingly suggested.
Spectacle reaches dizzy heights with performances on the gleaming sky wheel and the double swing. The wheel closes the first half with Zurab Skhirtladze skipping on top, some 12 metres above the ring. The double swing has performers, of the Didyk troupe, dropping from a great height on to a swing angled at an astonishing 80 degrees. That last sentence should be read again.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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