The Revel Puck Circus are in town with their show, The Wing Scuffle Spectacular! They are a young and very energetic troupe who try extremely hard to instil that energy and excitement into their audiences before they enter the big top by welcoming everyone warmly, but when you’re still waiting outside to enter – in Minus 3° weather – when the show should have already begun, energy levels were hard to maintain, writes Michael Holland.
Once inside and feeling the heat, our toes thawed as we warmed to the performers working the crowd to clap, stomp, slap thighs and harmonise before they were chased round the ring by a chainsaw swinging wildly on a wire.
Then the clown was chased around the ring by a remote-controlled cute lion cub, which was fun for the under 7s. More so when the cub’s dad arrived to chase the clown round for the rest of the first half.
A young woman began doing things with hoops that looked quite clever until she began juggling the hoops and could barely manage three. The hoops, alas, spent more time on the floor than in the air.
More entertaining was the girl in the giant hoop swirling around and around and upside down, and we all watched closely to see how she managed to not crush her fingers on each roll. Then we were enthralled by the trio on their teeterboard sending each other up into the air to spin before coming down on to the board and sending their colleague at the other end flying skywards.
The second half had more exciting acrobatics and high-flying entertainment and made this show worth every penny of the low-cost ticket. The Revel Pucks showed that they are building up skills that they will take on to bigger, better circus troupes where they can hone their art even further and work on the international stage. For now, this is their apprenticeship.
The Wing Scuffle Spectacular is part of LIT! – the festive finale to Lewisham’s year as London Borough of Culture.
Beckenham Place Park, Beckenham Hill Road, Bellingham, BR3 1SY
until 8 January Admission: Tickets £17
Concessions £13. Booking: www.thealbany.org.uk
