Presented by: Highwire Events & Entertainment
Reviewed 15 February 2015
Despite Sunday’s intense heat, the opening performance of Le Petit Circus still managed to attract an impressive crowd. Aimed at youngsters and those young at heart, Jane, Ollie and Jake presented 40 minutes of family fun.
The Peacock venue was perfect for the intended audience – large enough to seat about 100 people, but intimate enough for the kids to get close to the three performers and be drawn in by their theatrical expressions and general clowning around. The seats were great too; moulded plastic chairs are much kinder to little backsides than the usual wooden planks used in many Fringe venues.
The heat presented some challenges in the opening act with batons used in a juggling act flying awry, presumably due to the performer’s sweaty hands. This was unfortunate as it did detract from the professionalism of this otherwise polished threesome, but luckily the hiccups began and ended there.
For the rest of the show, the audience was treated to a vast array of traditional circus acts from the strongman, to balancing on objects and other performers, extreme hoola-hooping and of course, the flying trapeze. There was a hectic game of musical chairs, a display of strength and balance atop a tower of stacked chairs, tricks with a rope, and a mermaid in the air.
The music was up-beat and fun throughout, adding to the energy and hype which the performers kept up for every second. The finale consisted of a high-energy, acrobatic dance type of creation, which is best seen rather than read about.
Overall, this is a great show for kids and families. It is specifically for smaller children, and would probably most appeal to those in the three to nine year age bracket. Admirably, the performers catered to this audience, adopting a Wiggles-like stage presence that really drew in the littlies. It is perhaps a bit unsophisticated for older audiences, but then this show isn’t for them.
If you really want to know if it hit the mark, just ask a child, right? My two-year-old date demanded “more” at the end of each act, my nine-year-old date couldn’t hold back her exclamations of enjoyment and rated it ten out of ten. So there you go – take the kids along for some good old-fashioned live entertainment that doesn’t involve Disney, Pixar or some kind of screen.
Reviewed by Samantha Bond
Twitter: @SamBond
Venue: Gluttony – The Peacock, East Terrace, Adelaide
Season: 15 February – 15 March 2015 (every Friday, Saturday & Sunday)
Duration: 40 minutes
Tickets: $14 – $55 (family)
Bookings: Book through FringeTix online or at a FringeTix box office (booking fees apply)
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