Brighton Fringe 2010
Low Down
A twisted circus has come to town, and they might just come for you. Neoburledsque and firebreathing come together to heat up the cold May nights ..
Review
Are you sitting comfortably? Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit. Although you might want to wince a little. Coming across like the result of an evening spent with Tod Browning, Papa Lazarou, and too much good cheese, this is a stunning and awe inspiring show, with a cast of characters that manage to be both magnetic and appalling.
Holding it all together (and, occasionally, almost in the all-together) is the delicious Luci Fire, a majestically flame haired vixen of a hostess, lips curling round witticisms, bon mots, and sticks of fire. She’s a girl who proves herself to be hot in every sense of the word, and, as befits a woman with a whip, is absolutely in command of the show.
This is a genuinely visceral show, producing amazed gasps from the audience, many of whom appear to be watching from between their fingers, while they cry ‘no!’ and ‘yes!’ at dizzily regular intervals. The main narrative of the show, such as it is, that the circus is roping in (sometimes literally) new recruits to their travelling band. This prompts a series of acts to showcase some of the best talents that the circus has to offer. As the name suggests, this means moments of hammers, nails, blades and axes. All done with a wink and a smile. And sometimes a yell of pain.
You may well think that watching tattooed freaks hammer nails into themselves isn’t your way of spending an evening. And you may well be right. But the Pain Free Circus is smarter than that, laced with a whip sharp sense of humour, with strong characters, such as The Baron, and Tusk himself (genuinely a staple of the show, in more ways than one) And there’s much more than just hammers to fall – it’s a generously proportioned feast of flying usherettes, flaming motorbikes, and much more that we really don’t want to spoil the surprise about. Sometimes sick, often sexy, and more than a few times, both in the same moment. For you: no pain. But a fair bit of gain.