Barnum The Circus Musical has been expertly re-imagined from the classic 1980’s musical hit for a new audience.
Practical politics and current events fuse in Joseph K, Tom Basden’s absurdist dystopian farce modelled on Franz Kafka’s The Trial.
Unfortunately for all the other actors in the show, the titanic pillars of Newman and Weaving cast such long shadows, not only by the strength of their stellar performances, but by the sheer percentage of the script’s lines they monopolise between them.
Maude Davey, Weave Movement Theatre, Pimpisa Tinpalit, Yumi Umiumare and Takashi Takiguchi team up and take you down the rabbit hole of this dance form.
To me Leung is less a comedian and more of an incredibly talented writer. The way he weaves multiple references into his show and then refers back to them much further on in his monologue is brilliant.
As the line-up is never announced prior to the show, a "Gala" can sometimes be a bit of a hit and miss affair. I am happy to report this show was a cracker!
Sobering and confronting but simultaneously life affirming and joyful, this is gentle but by no means easy or passive theatre.