The members of the Chinese State Circus, don't just spin one plate or half a dozen, they spin hundreds at a time. Then they spin them standing on their heads. Then they spin them standing on each other's heads.
I've always thought skipping was for wimps, but this puts skipping into an entirely new perspective. These people skip one on top of the other, a kind of gigantic skipping pyramid. The ground actually shakes from shock.
And that's just the easy stuff. Later on they start stretching themselves a tad. A dozen or more ride a single bicycle and, no, they don't hold on; tumblers throw themselves through hoops that get higher and higher and impossibly small; up above us, at the place where tent meets sky, others fly through the air creating stupendous geometric patterns like a human spirograph.
The level of skill is astonishing. Each member of the ensemble doesn't have one feat but many, and just at that point when the emphasis on symmetry leads to a growing feeling that, admirable though it all is, what you are really witnessing is an extremely advanced gym class with a built in wow factor, out prance the ornate gold faced lions and billowing dragons. Spectacle meets perfection in a puff of smoke and a shake of the tail.
Circus traditionalists will be in seventh heaven; those like myself who like their circus to have meaning and emotion may feel sold a little short by the rather regimented nature of the performance. But even at its most po-faced, the evening is a fascinating demonstration of the difficulty of believing the evidence of your own eyes and a jaw-dropping denial of the flesh and the limitations of the human body.
Until May 1. Then at Highbury Fields, London N5, May 3-7 and at Preston Park, Brighton, May 9-27. Box office for all venues: 07720 255 266.
***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible
