Comedy Reviews: Circus Oz
Circus Oz
★★★★★
If you’re tired of the same old variation of stand-up, observational comedy and want to see something visually and aurally spectacular, head over to the resplendent Forum Theatre, which is hosting Circus Oz in its 45th year. After suffering managerial turmoil and uncertainty, it is back in Melbourne with vengeance, with a brand new show that’s brassy, sexy and high-voltage entertaining.
Like other acts at the MICF, the show is capped at an hour, and this short and sharp streamlined time slot is just enough to boast some of the very best acrobatic, aerial, juggling and trapeze work. The seven performers – all (cross) dressed in tight, bright dresses of different colours – move to the rocking beat and pulse of a band onstage, and the action never lags.
The ensemble not only consists of different body sizes and shapes, but impressively spans six decades in years (veteran performers and younger crew all muck in). There is real talent and grit collectively, with everyone literally pulling their weight: heaving bodies are primed to be thrown into the air, to balance on top of shoulders three high, flung across the stage in various tumbling antics and generally put under a gruelling regime of physical exercise, all in the service of making us gasp.
As the show is sitting under the auspices of the MICF, there’s a sly comedic element in Circus Oz’s signature style: the cheekiness and slapstick cartoon-violence elements that include mock fighting, an archery routine and a very unsavoury inclusion of a balloons and nostrils act (you’ve been warned).
Circus Oz has toured the globe; this family-friendly production is world-class and should not be missed.
Author: Thuy On
www.artshub.com.au