If your child hasn’t seen a circus show before and you haven’t seen a circus show with a child before, then you’re both in for a treat. All Star Circus is a delightful and fun introduction to circus performance for kids - and for caregivers who get to experience it with them.
It was enjoyable as a parent to watch my child’s eyes light up, see her clamp her hand over her mouth and laugh and squeal with delight. Circus shows are generally always a crowd pleaser so it was special to see her first one together, especially in an intimate performance where the trapeze artist swings right over the audience.
From the moment the performers walked through the crowd saying hello to the final bow and all the varied circus acts in between, my six year old, who gets bored easily, was charmed the whole way through.
The show was opened by the charismatic and acrobatic ringmaster and a breakdancing acrobat, who performed a series of ‘warm up’ exercises involving handstands and partner work in a great show of strength.
The first official act and the first of three aerial performances, was a graceful female trapeze artist in a sparkly, skin-tight leotard. She set the bar exceptionally high - pardon the pun - for the rest of the show, showing off her incredible aerial talent as she soared out over the audience.
Other acts included “Italy’s best juggler” balancing on on a rola bola (a plank on top of a cylinder tube), a hula hooper and a male aerial artist showing off his amazing strength on the trapeze.
The ringmaster reappeared for his own act, delighting everyone with some great one liners and audience participation while simultaneously balancing atop a ladder and juggling machetes.
While my highlights included the female aerial artist on the trapeze and the ringmaster on the ladder, the six year old favoured “the Italian juggler”.
“I liked how he juggled on the thingy (the aforementioned rola bola) and thought he was quite talented for juggling on a thingy,” she told me on the way home.
She also liked the first act on the trapeze and said the female aerialist “had a lot of talent” on her apparatus.
Another six year old friend liked the two female performers - the aerialist and the hoola hoopist. While the women were still outnumbered by the male performers, it was great to see there was strong female representation to help all young audience members see what they could be capable of themselves with a lot of hard work, should they decide to run off with the circus one day.
The energetic, loud music during some of the acts didn’t phase my sensitive junior reviewer, but may affect some younger children. The only thing she identified as “kind of scary” was “the man on the ladder juggling the knives”.
“It was so dangerous,” she told me. “I don’t think anyone without any circus talent should ever try that.”
Not only was I glad she picked up on that for safety reasons, but - after hearing the knife-juggling ringmaster explain how he studied circus arts - it showed she understood how much hard work and persistence these performers have put into developing their talents for our entertainment.
Overall, I loved seeing the show with my junior reviewer - who described it as “reeeeeeally good” - and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
To give a break down of our rating; it was a solid four stars for me. I loved the acts, humour and intimate setting, as well as the coolness of the tent on a 38 degree day in the middle of the CBD. But, the 6 year old - who is the intended audience - gave it “160 thousand infinity” stars out of five. So we’ve settled on five stars after all.
All Star Circus is showing at The Vault in Fool’s Paradise every weekend and the public holiday Monday at 3pm.