Cirque Du Soleil Have Almost Cracked It With OVO

Cirque du Soleil - OVO, Royal Albert Hall ★★★★☆

Hari Mountford
By Hari Mountford Last edited 74 months ago

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Cirque Du Soleil Have Almost Cracked It With OVO Cirque du Soleil - OVO, Royal Albert Hall 4

The latest offering from the world-famous Cirque de Soleil is pretty mind-blowing — entitled OVO, the Portuguese for egg — this production is set in a land of mini-beasts. The whole thing centres around a loose plot where a bunch of insects get very excited about an egg (yes, really).

With butterflies, ants and bees performing jaw dropping tricks in the round, OVO is pure acrobatic insanity. Think Ugly Bug Ball meets In The Night Garden crossed with a troupe of amazingly talented gymnasts. Moths hang from silks, grasshoppers somersault on trampolines and ants juggle oversized fruit between their feet — there's even some upside down unicycling across a tightrope.

The impressive music and set give a great backdrop for these elastic performers — all decked out in exquisite costumes and pretty colourful carnival-style headdresses — to flaunt their flexibility against.

In between the episodes of aerial dance and backflipping, contortion and tight-rope walking, clown-like 'bugs' act out rather odd love scenes in utter gobbledegook. The kids in the audience enjoyed this slapstick and rather childish comedy — these parts, however, felt like filler. These caricature scenes were there to pad out the parts of OVO that most of the audience had paid through the roof to witness, the unbelievable stunts that Cirque do best.

However, there's enough crammed in here, that OVO is sure not to disappoint. A treat for all the family, if somewhat reminiscent of a kids tv channel that has crossed wires with screenings of the Olympic gymnastic heats, Cirque de Soleil's new show is a stunner.

OVO by Cirque de Soleil, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP, from £20, until 4 March.

Last Updated 15 January 2018