Ritual by Untamed Circus
Ritual by Untamed Circus uses the occult rites as a platform to successfully showcase their circus skills. Untamed Circus is the be congratulated for the standard of their acts. There are moments that even this hardened circus skills reviewer has never seen before!
Untamed Circus have four values – “Innovation, to create original and unconventional works that allow artists to express their individual ideas or experiences and explore thought provoking concepts. Growth, to contribute to growing the arts in Adelaide by utilising local spaces and venues as well as taking part in local festivals and events. Equal Opportunities to provide equal opportunities to a diverse range of artists and Collaboration, to uphold the value of teamwork and collaboration; provide equal input from all artists involved in each project and allow artists to utilise their individual skills (performance and personal). In Ritual, they accomplish this and more!
We follow seven characters as they work together to develop their skills and supernatural powers, but “will these new-found abilities bring them into harmony or throw them into chaos?”
The acts feature - fire work featuring a fire headdress, fire eating wands, fire staffs, palm candles, fire crowns, and a fire dragon staff, the first LED cyr wheel I have ever seen that bought gasps and cheers from the audience, an acrobatic puppet character, illuminated poi, unique juggling, and accomplished female aerialists.
The highlights for me are –a quirky acrobatic puppet character with a suitcase containing brightly lit poi balls, unique juggling (although there were a few drops), heart stopping moments provided by female aerialists who defy gravity, particularly when working together – spinning upside down, a mini ‘death drop’ and two performers supporting each other high above the audience with total dependence on each other.
The ’ritual’ elements, designed to link the ‘acts’ largely work, but there were times I did not understand the relevance of the pages shown to us to the acts that followed. Having said that, the atmosphere was ‘gothic’ and the costumes/makeup certainly looked the part.
My only reservation with Ritual by Untamed Circus is the structure of the production which includes many times waiting in darkness for equipment to be changed, or a new music track to start. Hopefully this will improve as the season progresses as the waiting diminished the excitement the performers work so hard to build. There were also some technical issues that need to be resolved, dancing in the dark does not showcase the performer’s skills.
Ritual by Untamed Circus is a highly entertaining sixty minutes of circus thrills with more than a touch of the occult. Suitable for all ages, it is a great way to spend an afternoon at Fool’s Paradise!
Barry Hill OAM
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