Thursday 2 August 2012

Leo

Today, I made a tentative trip to the Fringe. Officially, I was with my students (the wonderful Tramway Young Critics, and a big respect to them for not getting lost or irritated with their errant teacher). But I nipped in to see Leo, the acrobatic "treat for all the family" and yes, it was an all ages show that had enough tricky spectacle to satisfy this Live Art fanatic.

Briefly, as I am sure that I'll be revisiting this one, Leo uses only the simplest of set ups: a man, who can climb walls, a suitcase, a hat, a surprise burst of saxophone and a video screen. The man performs a series of spectacular tricks - some of which have that gravity-defying acrobatic quality - and a video of the action is projected onto the screen, at an angle. The double of the tricks makes them even more gravity-denying and the sense of confusion gets so intense that I really did forget which way was up towards the end.

It's nicely structured - if a little long, not much - and has episodes of animation that nearly drown the man, a choreographed, intense finale and plenty of larking about all over the set. I made it one of my top five circus shows.

Thank God, I got that right.


Assembly Roxy Central, 02 – 27 August. 

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