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Show: Circus Abyssinia: Ethiopian Dreams
Society: Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Venue: Underbelly's Circus Hub on the Meadows (Venue 360)
Credits: Produced and presented by Bibi and BIchu
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 06/08/2017
Circus Abyssinia: Ethiopian Dreams
Chris Abbott | 07 Aug 2017 09:20am
Circus is a major part of the Edinburgh Fringe these days, with New Circus nationally owing a great deal to the performances seen at Edinburgh since the explosive arrival of Archaos from France many years ago. The grungy look pioneered by Archaos is still in favour, so it made quite a change to see the colourful costumes and props used in Circus Abyssinia’s Ethiopian Dreams. The venue, too, Lafayette at the Underbelly Circus Hub, provides excellent sight-lines for circus shows (not a lot of legroom for the audience however).
The framing device of two young boys dreaming of running away to the circus, with a brief video narration at the beginning from British circus and pantomime favourite Clown Tweedy, was followed by a series of high speed acts by an engaging group of performers. The two young boys from the opening reappeared several times to show their developing circus skills, but also opened the show by being thrown high in the air and then caught, over and over again, by members of this large troupe of performers – a thrilling and unusual act.
The core group are the Konjowich Troupe – four women and about ten men, although they move around so constantly it is difficult to count them. Their skills are more varied then in some new circus groups, with a particularly novel act from the female members which combined contortion, hand balance and acrobatics. The same four performers are skilled foot jugglers, and the style of work in this part of the performance and at some other points seemed influenced by Chinese circus. Two of the women also performed a sinuous contortion duo in snake-like costumes.
Where this show also succeeded strongly was in engaging with the audience, whether during a slightly ponderous clown interlude which eventually took off due to the skills and personality of the performer, or through the constant eye contact and grins at the audience, successfully encouraging them to applaud. Production values were exemplary throughout, with glowing Indian clubs, an interesting musical backing and regular costume changes.
The show finished with an excellent Chinese (or Ethiopian?) Pole routine and it was fascinating to see what these tall, muscular performers brought to an act usually presented by much smaller though equally nimble acrobats. All the climbs and drops were there, hands-only ascents and descents, and backwards jumps from one pole to another, but the obvious effort involved by this stage of the performance added a frisson of danger to the performance. I’m not sure why they reverted to jeans and sweaters at this point however, when they had worn matching costumes for earlier sections.
A tightly choreographed and acrobatic ensemble dance ended this energetic and highly entertaining showcase by a skilled and engaging troupe who fully deserved their almost full house on a wet Sunday afternoon in Edinburgh.
- : admin
- : 06/08/2017