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Show: Paris de Nuit
Society: Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Venue: Venue 35. Assembly Hall - Main Hall
Credits: Recirquel by Bence Vági
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 16/08/2019
Paris de Nuit
Chris Abbott | 17 Aug 2019 10:48am
Paris de Nuit is one of the two shows at the Fringe this year from Hungarian group Recirquel. The show is returning to Edinburgh and continues to provide great late-night entertainment in the comfortable surroundings of the Church of Scotland General Assembly Hall, though one wonders what Church Elders of the past would have made of this performance in such a venue.
Promoted as a mix of burlesque and circus, this is for the most part a skilful blend of Parisian torch songs and high-class acts, all performed in costumes mixing sequins, leather and bondage. The cast of ten are fashionably gender-fluid and dressed appropriately. It is good to see a circus show where such attention has been paid to costume and there is even an effective set of lights and mirrors. Too often, the default for circus performers at Edinburgh is street clothes or dressing down; but not here.
Among the acts are hand-balancing, juggling (with a stroppy assistant), tight and slack wire (sometimes in high heels!), an updated Apache routine, aerial trapeze and ring and a very effective number with a swinging Chinese pole like a giant metronome. This would have been even more effective if it had swung further out over the fairly inebriated audience but perhaps that had been ruled out.
In all circuses there is a need to cover the rigging of a wire or the striking of an act, and traditionally this is the job of the clown working around the edge of the ring. In this performance, the distraction takes place in the same way but rather than clowning there is mild flirting by one of the cast with people in the front row – a nice development of circus tradition. Paris de Nuit pulls off that difficult task of melding new and old circus and does so with style and sophistication.
- : admin
- : 16/08/2019