Review: Psy @ Peacock Theatre

By Ruth Last edited 166 months ago
Review: Psy @ Peacock Theatre

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Image courtesy of www.varial.com
Mixing circus, psychology and smackdown, Canadian dance / acrobatics / knife juggling troupe The Seven Fingers defy both gravity and any reviewer not to resort to cliché as they wrestle with their inner (and outer) demons.

If you missed Traces a couple of years back, then don't make the same mistake again. Reminiscent of previous Peacock Theatre productions Cirkus Cirkör and Insane in the Brain (which is making a return next month), Psy will turn your world upside down, from the truly original opening sequence right through to the eyeball-boggling finale. Each segment of the performance is based around a particular psychosis, and whilst the symbolism can be a little obscure at times, aspects of OCD, addiction and agoraphobia are conveyed by girls with knives and guys in frocks (and even, at one time, an entire building juggling) to be as hypnotically engaging as a spell in the psychiatrist's chair.

Very occasionally though, the narrative unravels - trapeze acts are seemingly shoehorned into the show (if you can shoehorn someone into a flytower), whilst an overtly dancey number precipitated a descent into a Saturday clap-along. But the troupe's multifaceted daredevilry is delivered with such effortlessness, deftness and humour - not to mention a magnificent soundtrack - that even this miserablist reviewer was left with a somewhat chafed jaw from it dropping so much. It's worth the ticket price just to see the sleepily gravity defying (pole) dance of the insomniac. Even if you don't leave giggling like a toddler though, the performers offer up a little therapy of their own; demonstrating that it's okay to make mistakes every now and then, and that some things are simply out of your control - you just have to move around them. Thankfully for most of us though these external forces aren't usually a hundred juggling clubs raining from the sky.

Tickets £10 - £36 depending on how posh a seat you want to be sitting on the edge of (5-15 year olds half price)

Last Updated 07 May 2010