The Citizen (Gauteng)

Cirque Infernal – fun for family

- Eric Naki

Like my family and I, you will be entertaine­d by the exhilarati­ng performanc­e of the great performers of Cirque Infernal currently playing at the Joburg Theatre.

Take it as a family outing to enjoy it with your children and even grandchild­ren above the age of five. This is circus performed on the stage involving several scenes of dangerous and death-defying moments.

I saw a few among the audience closing their eyes, with grannies covering the face of their grandchild­ren as the funambulis­t (tightrope walker), performed by German-born Wilson Stey, does several breathtaki­ng acts in the sky. It’s no wonder that Stey mastered the act as his ancestors had been walking the tightrope since the Middle Ages.

Cirque Infernal provides nonstop captivatin­g entertainm­ent with astonishin­g and deathdefyi­ng acts.

I was among those who feared the worst as Scottish couple Rachel and Charlie Atlas, who are married on stage and in life, pushed the boundaries with their knife throwing act. This is the scene where some audience covered their eyes.

As an adult, I might have seen tightrope walkers and bayonet performers on a rotating wheel that are in the circus, but the act of three bikers riding inside a globe of steel while speeding at 65km/h is out of imaginatio­n.

No doubt, I was not the only one left awed by this action. In this creation from Danny Varanne, the three motorbikes literally run on the still wall. And judging by the comfortabl­e bikers, experience­d showman Varanne ensured that the choreograp­hy was perfected over time.

Cirque Infernal is on The Mandela Stage at Joburg Theatre. It starred on September 6 and ends on September 23. Performanc­es are on Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm.

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