CIRCUS
Circus Oz At Tent in City Square
Reviewer: Kate Herbert around April 2, 1994
This review was published in The Melbourne Times after April 2, 1994
Throw me a safety line! I've just seen Circus Oz! There is nothing like a circus to get your adrenalin going. Vicarious danger is thrilling, physical prowess is awe inspiring and Oz has heaps of both.
The show is very loosely based on of a cafe staffed by acrobats. The cafe, however, becomes unnecessary, even intrusive. The most successful characters, the cowgirls and warriors, are unrelated to the theme.
The live band, under musical director Julie McGuinness, creates an atmosphere of excitement and magic for the acts. They also fly! Director Stephen Burton has cleverly structured the show, so every sequence builds dramatically to fever pitch. The warrior fire-juggling escalates in spectacle and danger. Bicycles follow scooter, skateboard and uni-cyclists, building up to the eight-person bike balance.
The trapeze is the location for exceptional feats. Anna Shelper is abandoned and almost reckless in the air and Master Lu Guang Rong, originally from the Nanking Acrobats, is breath-taking. His humility, grace and graciousness belie the fact that he is balancing on his head on a trapeze spinning hoops on his ankles and wrists or on his hands on a wine bottle on top of ten trays of glasses. The man defies gravity and sanity and he looks like he's meditating as he does it!
The show is peppered with a couple of great comedy acts. Darryl John's contact lens juggling was a hoot and very silly. Lisa Small and Nicci Wilkes (stage manager) do a delightful cowgirl sister double act. They wrangle shopping trolleys, spin plates of spaghetti and whip balloons from between the knees of an unsuspecting volunteer.
Some performers are not actors, so the purely physical acts or those integrating physical feats with characters were the more successful. One major problem with the show was the opening which was unfocused and insubstantial, relying on some bad acting.
It is not easy to make old tricks look and feel fresh, but Oz is still finding ways to break tradition, integrate theatre, circus and rock music to create the perfect feast for all ages. The show has a generous spirit, youth, vigour and excitement. And boy! Can those bodies move!
Kate Herbert 2 April 1994
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