Cirque Adrenaline

Simon Painter and Tim Lawson, producers of smash hit extravaganzas such as The Illusionists and Le Noir are back in town bringing with them highly-skilled performers from over thirty countries to present the ‘high-energy’, ‘high-octane’ Cirque Adrenaline to Australian audiences. And adrenaline is a good place to start, stopping along the way at ‘nerves-of-steel’ and finishing with ‘picking ones jaw up from the floor’ for this extreme display of acrobatics and dazzling dare-devilry showing now at the Queensland Performing Arts Complex (QPAC), Concert Hall.

Regardless of how wild the main acts however, a circus wouldn’t be a circus without a clown, and Dizzy the Clown (Darren Partridge) warmed up the audience, showing that the simple joys of clowning are still relevant today. In an age where it’s tough to get a laugh with gentle behaviour, Dizzy had the audience well and truly in hand, filling set changes with his special brand of audience-inclusive tom foolery. A very entertaining episode involving an oversized balloon and a sort-of strip tease (suitable for children) had the audience gasping for air. Partridge also surprises with a breathtaking visual act that seems like a cross between juggling, baton twirling, and a laser show, proving the he’s not just a funny face.

Stand-out acts for the main show came from Sabrina Aganier. Aganier’s version of the ‘Aerial Lyra’ is simply astonishing (this is the one that looks like acrobatics on a suspended hoola-hoop). Aganier’s unbelievable contortion abilities add so much more to this familiar piece as she seems to coil herself through her own limbs while effortlessly balancing on the hoop from various extremities. Also performing high above our heads, the ‘Duo Strap’ (Alex Mishchenko & Nastya Mischenko) are worth mentioning for their powerful display of strength and control.

Speaking of strength, the ‘Strong Men’, Mark Flores and Nokolay Nikolov perform with rugged beauty; the towering Nokolov slowly counterbalances the weight of flexible Flores whose gymnastic performance uses Nikolov’s entire body (even his head) as a base, with Flores not once touching the ground. Watching Nikolov’s face as he grimaced through these challenging feats of strength and balance added another element of drama to this display, this was no walk in the park for either man.

But the wow-factor of the evening absolutely belonged to the boys on the ‘Wheel of Death’. Angelo Rodriguez and Carlos Mayorga elicited gasps and sincere screams of fear from the audience as they performed acts of insanity high up on a spinning contraption that had them momentarily, weightless spacemen. At one point Rodriguez is flying through the air with no safety equipment, skipping rope and landing precariously on the whirling metal beast of doom; I must admit to sinking in my chair and covering my eyes here.

Cirque Adrenaline is a big-budget stage extravaganza pitched as the perfect night out for the whole family and there were lots of families out enjoying this dazzling show. It was disappointing however that gender was the only thing out of balance; with the exception of Aganier, Mischenko (Duo Strap) and Julia Chernogaeva (High Bar), roles for women seemed to be limited to corseted back-up dancers twirling and shimmying around the talented blokes.

Now showing until January 17, tickets are available online at www.qpac.com.au.