Edinburgh Fringe 2025
FLIP Fabrique: Six°
Flip Fabrique
Genre: Circus, Dance, Physical Theatre
Venue: The Lafayette at Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This show is so much more than a circus. The acrobats literally jump through hoops and throw or catch each other, one tiny woman seems to weigh no more than a cat, the way she is swirled through the air. There is a great variety of fun, speed and emotion, enough visual entertainment to be had for all ages but with a depth to the story that grows on you the more you contemplate what you have witnessed.
Review
For a change of pace my friend suggested we go to the big circus tent on The Meadows to enjoy acrobats from Canada: five beautiful people who on their poster almost look like they can fly. And what a treat their show is, all of them are masters of their craft, juggling, hoola-hooping, doing the splits in the air, throwing each other around, but there is so much more to be seen and heard.
There is a palpable loneliness on stage, the main protagonist can’t see the others, all of them seem to have issues that no amount of jumping about can easily solve. The set is a large interior wall that can be moved, walked on top of and with jokes built in, an unreliable door, a picture frame that falls off and encases a character. This house has agency, a voice greets each character as they appear with a name and a year in history. Canadians will recognise, others will have to search for their meaning if they can remember a name and the year – these are historically important Canadian figures. One example is Gloria (Baylis) 1959, who won the first-ever case of employment-related racial discrimination in Canada. Each figure is given papers/letters to read, (the Gloria character angrily rips hers up), a book to own. The first character seems to be earning his book throughout the story, as he is rewarded with his copy at the finale when he can see the others at last – though they have been ‘helping him’ throughout in beautiful, kind and funny ways. A metaphor perhaps for the loneliness many people felt in 2020/21 and the support networks that sprang up, people supporting each other at times unseen.
This show was conceived during Covid lockdowns, a thunderstorm kills the birdsong at the start, but as the disembodied voice reminds us first and last “Storms make the flowers fresh”.
The music varies between super jolly and sad. Leonard Cohen’s deeply felt ‘Happens to the Heart’ is a beautiful choice for the slow and ponderous hoop acrobat piece performed by the pensive Gloria figure.
This show is so much more than a circus. There is a great variety of fun, speed and emotion, enough visual entertainment for all ages but with a depth that grows on you the more you contemplate what you have witnessed. Their website includes a 20 minute film in French about the making of this show in a large barn during Covid. Many artists work with Flip Fabrique, the five who appear here are only part of their large stable of talents and it is clear that some of the parts were created by others. This is especially astonishing, considering how much they must rely on each other for safety – they literally jump through hoops and throw or catch each other, one tiny woman seems to weigh no more than a cat, the way she is swirled through the air. She is the one who in the final scene shows superhuman strength, something we all needed in lockdown times, and who is the most gentle of them all, giving love to the most lonely, selfish of performers who has all the time been trying to prove what a strong man he is, hiding his deep vulnerability behind feats of strength and grand sexy poses. I would love more information about the names of the artists, which of them is who and what the titles of the music are (none of this can be found on their website). I want to hear it again, see them again. There is a lot of room in that tent for a massive audience. Go and see this show.
