Paradiso Spiegeltent

St Andrew’s Square

27 Nov – 3rd Jan

19:30 (14:15 matinee sat/sun)

I was lying in bed with my partner on a rare quiet afternoon in Paris when I shook her awake & said, ‘they are all animals!’ Yaron Lifschitz

Beyond is a a jolly jacuzzi of jumping about a lot, with some genuine gasp-out-louds, all served up with some wit & sparkle by the internationally renowned company Circa. They have been chosen as the evening set piece in this years authentic-feeling 1920s Spiegeltent, which is in itself the centre-piece of Edinburgh’s St Andrews Square Christmas world. For an hour, the audience is immersed in a circular sea of float-thumping, throat-tearing, chair-tossing , smile-spreading, eye-raising circus which can entertain all the family.

‘There is,‘ narrate the troupe, ‘a fine line between human & animal, madness & dream. We now invite you to step across the line & go.. .BEYOND.’The essence of the show is crossing the fine-line between animal & human, the personification of animal movements & their incorporation into a dance aesthetic. The effect was mainly achieved by wearing oversized rabbit heads, underneath which were a team of young, ridculously fit dancers. Attaching our metaphysical minds to a pair of aeriel ropes, the hoist us high into phantasy land & whip us through an hour of perfectly entertaining christmas fare.

Whether a classic circus routine or an innovative piece of electrifying physical theatre, whether acrobats, somersault or shoulder-perching, each vignette is wonderful to watch, despite the slightly dodgy choice of music. I mean, for the Barishnykovs out there, having your bodily movements accompanied by Bonnie Tyler would be a tad anathemic.

Reviewer : Damo Bullen