THEATRE REVIEW: Above - Big Top In The Park, Irlam. Greater Manchester.

Lost In Translation is an international travelling contemporary circus troupe, and this week, in co-operation with Salforrd's Lowry Theatre, they became part of Irlam's annual summer festival, 'Big Top In The Park'. I was there to witness their second only performance of their latest show, 'Above', which tells the story of a young Italian noble who runs away from from, hides in a tree and disovers a whole new world up there, and so stays!

The show is advertised as being suitable for the whole family including very young children, and in one sense it is. However, the storyline is not obvious, and is only told as a way of threading circus acts together, which means that it becomes very difficult to follow, and is not given any real importance as a narrative, as obviously the circus acts need to take precedence. So the youngsters just watch the talented performers and laugh at them when they make physical jokes.

The biggest surprise though was that the big top was not in fact, big. Moreover, when entering I did not expect the seats to be laid out in conventional theatre rows at one side with a stage erected on the other, again, looking like a conventional theatre. This is not a Big Top and not a circus as I know it.

'Again' is a show which needs a few more performances yet for it to 'bed in' and run smoothly and slickly. There were a few teething problems with this evening's show. But hey, this is live theatre, and that's half the fun sometimes!

The 7 members of the company worked well together, and their acts included aerial, aerial sphere, acrobatics, slapstick, and ropes, and they were accompanied both live and pre-recorded by an 8th member who played accordeon, brass, keyboards and even sang! My favourite moment in the whole show though had to be using a human skipping rope. I'd never seen that done before. 

This is grass-roots contemporary circus, ideal for touring, and ideal for families to experience the thrills of this style of performance up close and personal. An enjoyable evening.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall

on - 12.8.21