Circus / Reviews
Review: Sabotage, NoFit State – ‘Daring and politically-charged contemporary circus’
On an empty patch of land in St Paul’s, the laws of gravity appear to have been temporarily suspended.
The Cardiff-based NoFit State circus company has brought their big top back to Bristol for their latest show which mixes contemporary circus with theatricality, live music and light projections.
Daring, exhilarating and politically-charged, Sabotage is hugely relevant and hugely fun.
is needed now More than ever
The NoFit State team, with close links to Bristol’s own Circomedia just a popcorn kernel’s throw away from this big top, promises that Sabotage “brings a darker, grittier, and more subversive edge to our trademark large scale contemporary circus spectacular”.
Sit in the front row and prepare for some slight neck-ache as performers directed by Firenza Guidi use every inch of the big top, crawling up from underneath the stage before soaring high above it.
Exceptional skills are on display with help from ropes, ladders, trapezes, silks and a huge metallic circular contraption suspended from the rigging which provides for some jaw-dropping moments.
Sabotage features a cast of around a dozen performers – photo: Mark J Robson / ineptgravity
“Our personal journeys bring us to this place,” say the NoFit State team, who are also briefly joined in the big top by Rishi Sunak and Rupert Murdoch, as well as footballers, riot police and a soldier.
“Our struggles, and privileges, have shaped that journey. And yet we find ourselves in the common meeting ground of the circus tent, with the common language of circus. Sabotage explores our separation, and our belonging.”
Head to this empty patch of land in St Paul’s, now briefly occupied by these extraordinary gravity-defying circus performers, and you will feel that you also belong.
Sabotage is in the big top at Wilson Street in St Paul’s until June 2. For more information and tickets, visit www.nofitstate.org/shows/sabotage/sabotage-bristol
Celebrating the joy of life with NoFit State – photo: Mark J Robson / ineptgravity
Main photo: Mark J Robson / ineptgravity
Read next:
- Community circus space to be displaced by development
- Review: Revel Puck Circus – ‘The most fun you’ll have inside a big top’
- Could you be a new Circomedia trustee?
Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
