A Journey of thrills and spills

The NoFit State Circus provides entertainment at various levels that can be breath-taking one moment and enchanting the next. Their routines require the utmost skill, training and physical fitness but also the ability to act on the edge. Bianco, their latest venture, harnesses all these talents into one immersive ‘promenade’ show that envelopes its standing audience with circus and theatre to the sound of a live band.

BIANCO is influenced by Jose Saramago’s novel The Elephant’s Journey which is a mix of fact, fable and fantasy about an elephant called Solomon and his travels from Lisbon to Vienna which ultimately portrays the story of life itself and in the words of the director, Firenza Guidi, resonates with circus: a village, a community and a travelling world. That world was represented by four white tall gantries and a trampoline and the gantries were moved about to deliver the changes in the world, the music and the mood. In terms of understanding the pushing of the gantries around seemed to be so much effort for little reward. To begin to appreciate the portent of the show, especially if one had not had some benefit from the programme notes a clear narrative to each set would have helped understand the journey the performers were meant to be portraying.

Just as the juggler found that there were too many balls in the air to catch the mood, and the equilibre lost the balance of the plot any attempt at following what was going on was destined to fail. There were however enough moments to keep the journey alive if not on a recognisable course…………………and they were special moments.

It did not take long to see why the company is rated so highly internationally and it was a privilege to witness such artistry and strength at close hand. The fascination was as much with the technical proficiency of the performer as the act itself. All disciplines were able to be viewed at close quarters which provided an otherwise intangible perspective not available to a conventional audience set-up. Two acts in particular stood out. The first belonged to Ariele Ebacher who could do almost anything on the wire. Tripping along the wire she proceeds to shed item after item of her clothes and accessories until all the unnecessary trappings of life are discarded. In the process she walks the wire in high-heels with poise, elegance and dexterity, and then shedding her heels she completes her journey walking backwards. Apparently Bianco is Ariele’s first show with the company and on this performance she is likely to be around for some time.   

 Photo: Steve Tanner

 August Dakteris is the straps exponent.This was high-flying adored material, that to the untutored eye was the perfection of strength and poise working as one. Time and again soaring high and low pausing to demonstrate the skills necessary to suggest August is one of the best, if not the best, in the discipline. It was a fiery end to his performance as he gyrated through space with a lighted torch in his free hand gesturing to a line of torchbearers on a gantry nearby.

That was just a flavour of what is offered in the numerous sets of the show. There are two other memories that one might take from the show. The first one relates to the band Fireproof Giant. They were excellent, probably one of the best bands around. Every number was musically sound and all the words that were sung could be clearly heard which in these days appears to be a novelty. The numbers in particular that stood out were Say It’s Alright, I Saw the Face of the Devil and Save Our Soul, but that list is just a question of personal choice, there are potentially several others to include according to one’s taste. The largely percussion number was particularly effective in support.

The other memory was the sight of the Auditorium which appeared like a surreal vision of classical architecture…………that was awe inspiring and was a fitting backdrop to the finale and the end of Bianco’s journey.                                     

In the Elephant’s Journey Saramago gives the mahout the ultimate, still timely, lines: ‘There’ll be a lot of applause, a lot of people crowding the streets, and then they will forget all about him. That’s the law of life, Triumph and oblivion.’ Somehow the show seems to have reached the same destiny.