West End Cirque Berserk Review
[usr 5]
Showcasing the finest in traditional circus thrills, skills and spills Zippos Cirque Berserk brings this treasured form of live entertainment bang up-to-date in a jaw-dropping West End Spectacular for the second year running.
The international cast of over 30 acrobats, jugglers, aerialists (with no safety harness), drummers, dancers, clowns, and death-defying stunt-men are a troupe of true circus artistes whose genuine “big top” training and performance experience guarantees unique, edge-of-the-seat theatre.
While the troupe is largely the same as last year, the performances have been tweaked. So even if you saw Cirque Berserk last year, you will see something new in 2018. The charismatic couple Germanie and Gabriel have seen an increase in their team. The new female performer is now juggling metal ‘Argentine bolas’ –Argentine balls– (also known as poi juggling) in sync with Germaine. As a result, Gabriel is left to perform solo and he seemingly enjoys the attention. Germaine is also a drummer and a foot juggler and their skills are brilliant and seemingly effortless.
The legendary Globe of Death has 4 motorcyclists speeding at over 60mph inside a steel cage. We all saw it last year, but this performance is truly a hair-raising one, no matter how many times you see it. The motorcyclists admitted to Ikon London Magazine that they have been doing this trick for over 7 years and every move is perfected to a tee. All bikers know when something goes wrong in the globe and if the precision or synchronization is off, they know ‘it’s time to exit’. How they manage to keep their cool at such speed in such confined ‘cage’, still remains a mystery to me.
We saw more of the award-winning clown Tweedy compared to the last year’s performance (or so it feels). We saw four short exhilarating performances in total. The clown doesn’t seem to lose his clumsy charm or skills. Along with funny falls and jokes with the public, we see Tweedy juggling knives, balancing on a prop box on the top of a metal cylinder, ride on a self-made monocycle and walk on the rope without any support. His performances are kept ‘sweet and short’ and deliver a good portion of laughs in-between blood-freezing stunts.
Another charismatic couple, a knife and ax-throwing Czech man Tony and his lovely wife are still ‘going strong’ too. We made sure to count all ten fingers on wife’s hands -at the after party- after she was spinning on the wheel trying to avoid sharp knives.
Special mention goes to the dancers and aerial ballet. We saw a cabaret sketch with clown Tweedy, exhilarating and vivid Gypsy dance, several vertigo-inducing aerial performances without a harness. Berserkus couple Jose and Gaby performed a beautiful balancing-dancing act and the ‘most flexible archer’ Odka was shooting arrows with her feet while performing a handstand. Timbuktu Tumblers showed us what ‘house of cards’ looks like in human flesh and the Tropicana Troupe showed some first class catapulting with attitude.
Zippos Cirque Berserk is Family Entertainment at its best where ordinary people do amazing things. Right in the heart of West End. The show is great for kids and even better for adults. We are glad that Cirque Berserk keeps its 5 stars rating for the second year running.
[usr 5]
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).
