High-Flying Wizards Of Oz Dazzle At Circus Oz

With shades of AC/DC's Angus Young and Kylie Mole in their scruffy schoolchildren's getups, they are the antithesis of highbrow circus-as-art troupe Cirque du Soleil. This humorously irreverent lot is all about fun - and it is their laidback, lackadaisical style that earned them rave reviews on their latest tour of New York.

That and the fact they might look like a ragtag lot - but they sure know their business.

After dedicating their first Perth performance in nine years to the late circus skills legend Reg Bolton, there's a reminder to switch off phones and a stern warning of "no muckin' around". That's their job.
Whether the dozen-odd performers are crab hopping up a fireman's pole, flashing their knickers on the flying trapeze or decimating a medley of classical tunes (including the theme from Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey that sees John O'Hagan and his double bass flying around the Big Top), they prove their circus chops rival any troupe in the world.

There is no mistaking where they're from when the mullet-haired, check-shirted BMX bandit Scott Hone takes to the stage. Watching him mock bullfight with piano-accordionist Svetlana Bunic and pile nine performers on to his moving bike, it seems so odd to read that he used to be an orange juice salesman and taught high school maths.

And it is even more of a surprise when such a chunky chap reappears in a tutu, balancing and rolling sparkling balls on his arms with a completely unexpected grace. He's found his niche with Circus Oz.
Perth girl Mel Fyfe is a formidable strongwoman. You wouldn't want to cross her - she has abs of steel that can not only withstand the entire body weight of Hone, but serve as a chopping block when the singing stuntman (Matt Wilson) sledgehammers three concrete blocks on them. Ouch!

As robust as she is, Fyfe is no slouch at acrobatics either: she can no-hands cartwheel, backflip and swing trapeze with the best of them.

In fact, the women rule in much of Laughing at Gravity. Jess Love has the wow-factor in spades with her hula hoop routine, while juggler extraordinaire and contortionist immersed in a vat of pink lemonade, alongside slinky chanteuse Christa Hughes (of Machine Gun Fellatio renown) channelling Edith Piaf?
Not that the blokes drag their heels. Stuart Christie is breathtaking on the corde lisse, doing just what the show promises - laughing at gravity. And he is superb in unison with Love in an acrobatic floor routine. Holy Flexibility!

Another highlight is when Wilson shimmies up a bendy lamp post. (It's actually Michael Ling! - Circus Oz Web Elf) Teetering at a vertiginous height on the top, it is amazing he doesn't plummet into the laps of the audience below. I’d hate to see the bill for their public liability insurance.

The only moment the two-and-a-half hour (including interval) show hits an off note is in its strangely surreal second act vignette where Hughes lip-synchs a string of famous movie quotes - from Brando's "I coulda been a contender" On The Waterfront speech, through Cassablanca and The Wizard of Oz. It just doesn't seem to fit with the show's completely unpretentious, down-to-earth tone.

Nevertheless, little girls in the audience will be dazzled by her glittering thigh-high boots while adults search the annals of their memories trying to remember the films she references.

Cheeky and audacious, it is unsurprising to read that Circus oz is equally a home on 42nd Street as in the Australian outback. Laughing at Gravity is one of the Festival's family highlights. -- www.circusoz.com