Chinese State Circus

The Chinese Circus,         Truro Hall for Cornwall - matinee

So beautifully done, so exuberant, energetic and young. As it starts I want to cry because of their blithe courage.

The clown - all in yellow, is very much less threatening than clowns often are. He throws popcorn over a man’s head in the front row and he gets four men from the audience up on stage to do a stunt where they sit on stools and then lie back on each other’s laps and the clown removes the stools and they remain, supporting one another. He’s impish and cheerful.

There’s a lot of leaping, acrobatics, women spinning eight plates each on sticks, women on bicycles, a woman en pointe on a man’s head, a man on a bed of nails with a paving stone on his chest cracked with a blow from a huge hammer, two men sword fighting, women drumming, women musicians playing frantically, clever lighting, a giant yin yang symbol, and the men with hats, on and off and exchanged, amusing and charming. It’s an absolute treat.

There’s a lot of red and glitter, men dressed as lions tossing their manes.

The audience is intent, excited, all ages, children with those flashing light wheels and sticks and all united clapping to the music at the end as the young company, equals rather than stars and others, clap with us. Two hours of skill and delight in it and we go out into the evening wishing we could do that too, but at least part of it, and they repeat it all at 7.30.

  

I did some drawings in the dark.