The Circus Oz Troupe usually play in bigger surrounds but for this iteration they are performing in the small space of Fairfax Studio in Arts Centre Melbourne and so it’s a necessarily more stripped back affair. The seven performers of varying ages (always a delight to encounter in any performance capacity) are well supported by a live band of three who are set up in the background, and elevated on a platform, always in view. Their raucous multi-instrumental music provides the backbone and heartbeat of the show.
As with any circus show, expect familiar acts: from trapeze to balancing, to aerial and tightrope – and the team acquit themselves to an excellent standard. They are dressed in either blue and white tracksuits or nude-coloured body suits, and the action is mostly fast and furious.
However, the dramaturgy in Smash It! feels muddy. There are too many competing ideas running through the show. It starts off with rubber duckies and ping pong balls (with audience participation required) so one expects a carnival theme to dominate, but then there are splinters into political themes of colonisation and restitution, with the performers being statues that are duly knocked off their pedestals.
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A large dumpster bin is also used as a prop but that doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere with the rest of the act. Overall, this production seems a bitsy, tangential offering that may showcase the performers and their strength, endurance and agility, yet does not satisfactorily adhere to any thematic coherence.
Circus Oz: Smash It! will be performing at Arts Centre Melbourne until 21 April 2024 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2024).
