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CIRCA: Wunderkammer

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Guaranteed thrills in hot circus show
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CIRCA: Wunderkammer

Guaranteed thrills in hot circus show

Wunderkammer has to be the flat-out sexiest of all the circus-theatre shows running rampant on this year’s Fringe. Created by Circa, an Australian company at the forefront of innovative circus performance worldwide, it’s an amalgam of amazing acrobatic skills and saucy, genderbendy cabaret-style teasing. Imagine Bob (All That Jazz) Fosse running off to join the circus and you’ll have an inkling of what’s in store.

The title is German for a cabinet of curiosities, or wonders. There are indeed some wonderful acts here. A ginger-haired woman has a momentous, innately musical encounter with a hoop. A buff man strips down to his smalls while on the trapeze. There’s an even more memorable male ‘duet’ on the Chinese pole.

At one point various cast members’ elasticated bodies are used by others as skipping ropes. And let’s not forget the group nostril-flossing … What's great about Wunderkammer, maybe even more than the terrific cast’s innate desirability and presence, is its sense of equality: the women are as strong and skilled as the men.

If it’s smart, body-based thrills you’re seeking, you probably can’t do better than this show.

Underbelly Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, until 26 Aug (not 20), 5pm, £16.50–£18.50 (£15.50–£17.50).

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