UKC

Went to see their show Delirium last Friday. Fantastic – so many different things going on stage at once you don’t know where to look. The whole thing – music, dance, song, acrobatics, lighting.
Would recommend to anyone.

In reply to Ian Archer:

Went to see them about a year ago; absolutely phenomenal. I bought the soundtrack afterwards, too....wicked music to unwind to. I second your rec!

In reply to Ian Archer:

Seconded. I saw Alegria last year (although I think they have stopped that show now) and it was awesome

In reply to Ian Archer: We saw Mystiere in Vegas two weeks ago. Totally amazing, I'm sure I missed afew things. Most of the acrobats make climbers look like total wimps.

In reply to Ian Archer:
Delirium? In Sheffield this weekend? Fantastic? I must have gone to the wrong place; the one I went to was cack!
I paid a fortune to watch a circus famous for it's acrobats and none stop, thumping, thrilling action. What I saw was a 2 hour music show that sounded like Celene Dion and some rock ballad dude off of the 80s and looked like cast-offs from the set of Braveheart.
There were acrobats; 4 Ukranian guys who were great and a solo guy doing inpressive gymnastics but that was about 15 minutes out of 2 hours off dull, dated rubbish.
Save your money people. I was very disappointed. I'd heard they were far better than this.

In reply to fjellrunner:
Maybe if you read their website and saw that it was different to their other shows before booking tickets you may not have been disappointed?
Its always worth researching things before you buy.

The other people appear to have enjoyed it – maybe its just you ?

In reply to lazydaizy24:

After seeing them, ooh, 10 years ago, and being bowled over by it, we made a point of going whenever we could.

However the show around 4 years ago in London (can't recall the title) really wasn't up to scratch. It looked like the B team out practising. We haven't been since.

Did anyone else see Archaos before they went under?

J

In reply to fjellrunner:

Some clients of mine said exactly the same thing yesterday ie. rubbish.

In reply to JonC:

Much as I enjoyed it, I think it is very much a love or hate thing. I have always been fascinated by circus arts and it was great to see skills performed by real experts against a good background of dance and music. But I can also see how people could come away utterly bemused by the whole thing!

I think it also depends which show you go to because they are all quite different!

In reply to Moacs:
>

I saw them in 1996, obviously before they went under (didn't know they'd finally gone under) but after the two main directors had separated. It was quite disappointing. I had seen a fantastic South Bank Show documentary about them in the early 90s. One of the directors left and set up Circus of Horrors, I think.
What I was left with was some quietly impressive silk-ribbon acrobatics, some other pretty nifty stuff (though not NEARLY enough, and not stunning enough IMHO), hours of bad French techno, and a tedious unimpressive BMX half-pipe session.

What I'd seen on the South Bank Show had looked like Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

What I saw at Archaos in 1996 looked like some warm-up turns on a family-oriented television magic show.

Around 98 or 99 I did see Circus of Horrors and despite the cheese factor of the "horror" aspect (a bit Madame Tussauds!) it was a lot more impressive.

In reply to Blue Straggler: Saw Circus of Horrors last year. Cheesy indeed, and some awful singing, but some great acts. One guy looked a lot like Jason Kehl.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I saw the "Max Max" version I think - pretty wild and every now and then the end doors would slam open and a motorbike would rev through on fire doing wheelies. In fact the evening smelt mostly of cordite...

I think, pushed to its limit, the kind of creativity that is needed to make a show outstanding, is incompatible with being a "commercial show".

J