Edinburgh Fringe 2010
Soap! – the Show
Circle of Eleven & Assembly with Marshall Cordell
Genre: Circus
Venue: Assembly
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Straight from runs in London and Berlin, ‘Soap! The Show’ has everything you could want from a circus show. Dazzling, daring, and dangerous, this is a hugely enjoyable, breathtaking spectacle.
Review
‘Soap! The Show’ is one great wave of entertainment. Delightful clowning, physics defying acrobatics, creative juggling, moving contemporary dance, and astounding aerial work all feature in this extravaganza of a circus show. From start to finish this show offers great spectacle, astonishing feats of human strength and agility, and mesmerising demonstrations of skill.
8 bathtubs are positioned on stage, with a beautiful opera singer at the highest tier. Soon acrobats emerge from the tubs, in demonstrations that start playfully and quickly turn to the amazing. The acrobats jump, swing, and tumble on and over the stage, in moments embodying childlike curiosity, beautiful sorrow, and jealous passion. Each feat is linked by music from the live singer, or clowning from a character who, in climbing through a drain pipe, has discovered this magical world. Special mention has to go to the lighting design which really brings the magic to life, and as each element unfolds it becomes increasingly difficult to believe your eyes.
Straight from runs London and Berlin and devised by Markus Pabst (creator of the bathboy act in La Clique) and Maximilian Rambaek, Soap! The Show is a variety night with a fusion of musical theatre, new circus and comedy all set within the original confines of a bathroom. In its final week of its Edinburgh run, tickets are a little pricy at £20, but its certainly worth the extra money. All the joy and inspiration of Cirque de Soleil – but up close. (Front few rows may get wet….)