The Melbourne summer school holiday gold ticket activity has been found. Circus 1903, showing at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre from January 3rd to January12th is is a tribute to the golden age of circus. Set to a resounding score, and with era costumes to die for Circus 1903 incorporates a bevy of circus acts into a performance that also includes laugh out loud, audience participatory comedy, and some puppet wizardry.
We are a tough bunch to please our family – two boys aged 6 and 8 with completely different interests, a golden 2 year old princess, and an overworked, tired dad. Last night, as I bundled them all into the car to head to the opening of Circus 1903 there was more than a little whinging. My animal mad kid did not want to go to a show that didn’t have real animals and my primary aged would be teenager wanted to watch tv. School holidayitis had set in – that’s for sure. The only enthusiastic family member was my golden princess who thought she was heading out at bedtime to a movie. To say that despite themselves they were won over by the excitement, and pure gorgeousness of the production is an understatement.
Circus 1903 incorporates traditional circus routines – knife throwing, aerial acrobatics, tight rope walking and a contortionist among others. A few points of wonder from my perspective – what looked like a real life giant threw a woman round with his arms in some sore of crazy gymnastic display that still ended up looking romantic. A juggler extraordinaire juggled seemingly at the speed of light. A beautiful African lady contorted herself into the most uncomfortable of positions but still managed to look beautiful through it all nonetheless. All routines are performed to the highest standard however the sets, costumes and music create an experience unlike any circus the children had experienced before.
If the sublime beauty of the aerial performance was lost on my eight year old son (but not my two year old daughter) it didn’t matter. The ebb and flow of the show meant that elegant acts were soon followed by comedy with enough fart jokes to engage even my naughty 8 year old.
In another life I dreamt of being a puppeteer so the two elephant puppets (and the puppet masters controlling them) made my own night. The creative genius of these two elephant puppets is a strong statement against having live animals in circuses and my animal mad child was not the least disappointed that they were not real when he finally saw them.
The show really is suitable for all ages – my two year old asked if we could watch it again today. It is also a show I’d enjoy sans kids. My only comment is that the lack of narrative may mean younger children with lesser attention spans find themselves drifting. This is after all a family production in a different class entirely to pantomimes, and children’s theatre.
If you have children that like to participate there are a couple of rather wonderful participatory roles for kids in this show – aim for seats near the front and get them to put their hands up quick!
Tickets to Circus 1903 are available via Ticketmaster. We were gifted our tickets to the performance but as usual my views are my own.
