Circus Oz brings their own unique style and humour to their newest show, ‘But Wait… There’s More’, mixing the wonder of the circus with a politically punchy vaudevillian clown show.
One of the single most wonderful things I have ever seen was their modern take on acrobatics on horseback. Replacing the traditional trusty steed was the magnificent unicycler, replete with mane-ed helmet, accompanied by April Dawson performing graceful flips with ease and elegance. Even better than if they had performed the difficult ending easily, was that they just missed it, gave each other a nod, and tried again, doing 4-5 of the most knot-ridden twists I’ve seen, to the audience’s rapturous applause.
The strong women of the circus were phenomenal. From Liloi Kaos feistily performing with 50 hula hoops, to Spenser Inwood’s strong support on the trapeze, to Olivia Porter’s slapstick funnies, they enjoyably subverted my expectations time and again.
The political messages of infobesity and the dangers of our ‘more, more, more’ society were cleverly delivered through their ever-growing clown-style troupe. What is both effective about the message, and not especially enjoyable about it, is that there was so much clownishness that it did infect the rest of the show, lessening the impact of a lot of the other performances. Although that is in line with the message, I did want more, more, more of the incredible performances undiluted by stuff and nonsense, however clever it was.
