Circus: Beyond

Circa
Created and directed by Yaron Lifschitz
Lighting designer Jason Organ
Performed by Robbie Curtis, Rowan Heydon-White, Bridie Hooper, Kathryn O’Keeffe, Paul O’Keeffe, Skip Walker-Milne and Billie Wilson-Coffey

(★★★★)

Regal Theatre
Until January 21
 
As the primary colours combine to produce the whole palette, everything a circus acrobat does is made up of combinations of Catch, Hold, Lift, Balance and Spin; Beyond is a pure expression of those elements.
We quickly learn that gender is there to be inverted. Beyond’s strong man is a woman, and its men are putty in her hands.
There’s beauty too. Hooper takes to the air on straps as Amanda Palmer sings Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees; Billie Wilson-Coffey climbs the tissu to Camille O’Sullivan’s lovely take on The Ship Song.
Paul O’Keeffe provides the highlight of the show. He folds a cigarette paper into a tiny shape and spins it on the tip of his finger like a miniscule propeller. Spectacle and span dissolve into a moment of infinitesimal wonder.
It’s an ensemble full of circus stars, and a gasp-eliciting night of circus art.


Link here to the complete review in The West Australian