We review Cirque Du Soleil’s OVO

THERE’S a brilliant joke in The Simpsons. As he watches surreal TV show ‘Twin Peaks’, Homer twiddles his thumbs and brands it genius. His brain, on the other hand, admits he hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Welcome to my Wednesday night at OVO. Cirque Du Soleil’s latest production is big, brash, and utterly bonkers. And despite being baffled by it, I enjoyed every minute – well, almost. The plot, from what I can tell, involves loads of adults dressed up as insects running around chatting like Teletubbies. But who needs a storyline when you have a woman who rests her whole body on her head? Or acrobats launching themselves two-storeys in the air against a wall – and landing on it. This is what punters pay for – and the show delivers in an abundance. It is a circus built not for the big tent but an arena – and it maximises every inch of space it has to

play with.

The colourful cast bound around tirelessly for the best part of two hours, soundtracked by live music.

To be fair, those two hours don’t fly by.

The stage element of the show – focussed on a bumbling fly’s attempted courtship of a ladybird – drags a bit.

Light on any real dialogue, the cast do their best to inject humour into it with slapstick.

But the problem is it isn’t that funny – even the kids near me didn’t laugh – and it is just all a bit weird.

But where OVO shines – and I mean really shines – is with the old-fashioned circus acts. The trapeze, high wire, cartoonists and – in particular – the shows trampolining climax, are more than worth the admission price alone.

They are nothing short of sensational.

OVO is on nightly at the Metro Radio Arena until Sunday.