Circuses have come a long way from forcing animals to do tricks and giving people inadvertent and poorly timed flashbacks to Stephen King’s ‘It’.
The shift towards exploring our own capabilities has certainly been a positive one, and 'Cirque O L I O' is a perfect example of how much better we are for the chance to see what magic people can make.
The 'Cirque O L I O' team make a LOT of magic.
It’s hard to talk about 'O L I O' without doing it a significant injustice; partly because I’ve been unable to source the names and pronouns of the performers (which is an incredible shame, because I want to see more from them), and partly because every act to take the stage deserves far more praise than this word count allows.
I could spend pages, easily, singing the praises of this show. Each act is a standalone often ushered in by an incredibly talented team of dancers, and yet, it felt cohesive in a way I can’t quite understand. Both family friendly, and full of subtle asides to amuse the adults, it is a photographer’s dream of light, smoke, athleticism, and theatricality that made me itch for the chance to try and capture at least a little of those 70 minutes of visual artistry.
All of the elements that could conceivably be dismissed as silly or lesser than the acts around them were staggering in their skill, and just as quick to take viewers on an emotional rollercoaster ride as their showier peers. As someone with a long-standing loathing of clowns, I expected some eyerolls and polite applause, not to be fully engrossed in every trick. And while there were contortionists and trapeze acts bringing more than a little danger to the stage, the act that had the crowd closest to toppling off the edges of our seats were the roller skaters.
The aim of 'O L I O' is to give the audience three things: something you’ve never seen before, something you’ll never see again, and something you have to see to believe, and they’ve absolutely nailed this brief. I left wanting to see the show at least a dozen more times, the world seeming shiny and new, cynicism gone – at least for a little while.
Possibly the greatest element of 'O L I O' is the subversion. This is a performance that defies expectation, setting us up and then turning the tables so masterfully it’s impossible not to be impressed. Possibly my favourite of these moments was the trapeze act. The scantily clad solo trapeze performer turned the act into part stunt work, part edgy modelling gig. This is a show that doesn’t take itself – or the history of such shows – particularly seriously, and it’s all the more engaging and impressive for that creative decision.
'Cirque O L I O' isn’t your best choice of entertainment if tricks that look and feel dangerous make you uncomfortable, and if you’re offended by scantily clad adults it might be best avoided. But for those who enjoy a bit of thrill with their magic, of if wonder feels in short supply in your life, 'O L I O' is a not-to-be-missed event.
