HUMANS 2.0

In the flurry of circus arts based shows that have filled the entertainment world in recent years none is better than those created by Circa. In 2017 we had Depart and in 2022 Sacre, two shows that set the bar very high indeed. How could they go further? Well Yaron Lifschitz and his extraordinary troupe of performers do. It’s not just the exacting feats of strength and balance that take it forward but this time there is an elegance and gentleness too. Moments of stillness and quiet punctuate the heart stopping and breathtaking things that they put their bodies through. This time the whole feels like the shift is away from all that and perhaps a leaning towards contemporary dance.

Ori Lichtik’s electronic score is driven at times and delicate at others, and Paul Jackson’s lighting is restrained in a very effective and beautiful way and one that highlights the pattern making of the company in their frequent perambulations of the stage. What also works is the simplicity of their costumes, a muted palette of rich earthy colours, scanty but not salacious, merely revealing lithe and sculpted forms. It’s a far cry from the lurex and sequin festooned costumes of so many circus art shows, and it’s massively better for it.

The title Human 2.0 is perhaps a reference to how this band of humans push their bodies to extremes, towering, bending, soaring through space, but for me the word refers not to the physicality that they test to extremes but to the relationship between the bodies, their humanity and each performers inter-dependence, their reliance on their fellow artists.

My only disappointment on this occasion was that from my stalls seats some of the earlier parts of the show, performed low on the stage, were obscured from my view. Not the fault of the company but how I wished I had seen those sections from a higher vantage point.

Andrew Kay

20 May

Brighton Festival @ Theatre Royal Brighton

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