Colombian circus outfit Circolombia has brought a brand new show to Norwich for their Norfolk and Norwich Festival residency.
The show’s name Corazón translates as heart, suggesting Latin passion and excitement, but despite some good performances the production somehow fails to really get the blood pumping.
While we see some inventive acts – it’s nice to see tightrope and there’s an unusual encore act that sees two cast members swinging upside down from foot straps – the show has a relaxed pulse, including laid back music that fizzles out at the end of an act rather than hyping to a pulsating conclusion.
Some delays for setup changes are inevitable in a temporary venue like the Spiegeltent, but there is too much interruption here and even when the acts are in train they often lack a certain slickness in presentation.
There are entertaining music and dance interludes and the acts themselves are technically impressive, particularly the Cyr wheel and iron jaw, it’s just lacking the energy to really carry the crowd and become more than the sum of its parts.
The Norfolk and Norwich Festival has a good history of cracking circus performances from acts like Circus Alfonse and Circa, giving this big shoes to fill. It’s not quite there yet, but as a new show with a longish run it still has time to shape up.
- Corazón continues at Adnams Spiegeltent as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival until Sunday, May 26.
