Circus-Cision

• Claire Sawers
• 21 August 2018

This article is from 2018.

Late night circus fun

In a Spiegeltent with stained glass windows, this late-night circus hosted by Melbourne group Head First Acrobats cuts straight to it and gets the bit about the title out the way early on: "this is a kosher show, where all the artists keep the tips", beams the man-bunned, punning ringmaster.

They're aiming for a 'naughty' cabaret, but often just end up with bro, studenty humour instead (someone onstage shouts out, 'it's funny cos it's penis!' at one bit, in case anyone wasn't following). Many gags are probably five-pints-funny but might seem more wobbly if you're in sober. Still, naff script bits glossed over, this hit and miss variety show has plenty of other things up its sleeve.

A hula hooping artist does very fast and fancy things with her neck and limbs, nimbly flicking her props into the air, or stacking them effortlessly into geometric shapes. The lean, flirty Rowan Thomas does a smooth burlesque striptease while rocking around on a Cyr wheel, and a trapeze artist dangles sassily from her ankles in a metallic leotard.

There's a daredevil juggling blades on a unicycle (while shouting at the crowd for not being more impressed), plus a blow-up twist on sword-swallowing at the end, and plenty turbo-charged backflips, handsprings and headspins that get the crowd cheering for more.

Underbelly Circus Hub, until Thu 23 Aug, 10pm, £11 (£10).