Circus arts still carry a whiff of mystique. Usually audiences are expected to be reverent and silent (unless clapping) for the superhuman feats on display. Certainly it’s rare for a performer to enquire whether we’d like our juggling smooth or jerky. So that’s precisely what makes this affable and chatty show from Full Out Formula (performed by Sierra Rhoades Nicholls, Kevin Flanagan and Liam Bradley) so unexpected and entertaining. 

The Chicago-based trio open I Think It Could Work by asking individual audience members a series of questions, ranging from ‘pick a number’ to ‘how do you like your eggs?’. What on earth could they be plotting? The answer becomes apparent soon enough as they launch into a routine incorporating the audience’s suggestions. This is improv circus; we are invested and implicated, and our input can make life easy or difficult for the acrobats. It’s an innovative concept and paves the way for a hearty blend of tricks and clowning, particularly in an extended middle section when each performer takes turns to showcase their skills while we are asked to tweak their act. How sadistic do we want to be? How sadistic do they want us to be?

The show does have a hint of workshop games to it, and there are sections of filler (a pointless round of musical chairs, for example). But when they hit the right note (and believe me, you’ll never look at an egg the same way again), this is a fresh and playful approach to circus, with oodles of personality.

I Think It Could Work, Zoo Southside, until Sunday 17 August, 5.30pm; main picture: Sarafian.