12 June 2025
Where you see a show can have a huge effect on your enjoyment – from the size of the venue to your location within that space. Circus shows benefit greatly when staged in a big top where the seating is in the round and democratic -it’s a shared experience by everyone. But put that same show in a traditional 1,000-seat prosccenium theatre and the dynamic changes.
I know if i’d experienced Head First Acrobats’ show GODZ at La Clique in their Leicester Square Spiegeltent or at the Edinburgh Fringe in a Spiegeltent such as the Palace de Varietie, it would have been a 5* experience. But putting just 4 clowns on a massive stage with only a table, five chairs and a single flying strap, and the stage swallowed them up, diluting any sense of excitement, danger, and eroticism.
The Peacock Theatre, the younger, brasher sibling to Sadler’s Wells, works fine if there are 2o Argentine drummers or a dozen twirling flamenco couples on stage, sadly GODZ is too small a show for its massive stage. And seeing GODZ from the circle – even the front row – was a major disappointment and I felt completely disconnected to the fun and frolics on stage. To be fair, people sitting in the front of the stalls looked and sounded like they were having a whale of a time.
There is s a story of sorts behind the show – 4 talented and hunky acrobats play the Greek gods Apollo, Dionysus, Cupid, and Hercules, running through a series of gravity-defying stunts, their muscular bodies in suitably revealing togas and sandals (which don’t stay on for long!).
There are ladder tricks, the fastest diabolo spinning I’ve ever seen, headstands that defy common sense, a strap-tease in the highest of heels and some hilarious use of a whip.
The cast tell us – repeatedly – how fabulous it feels to finally be making their West End debut. I just wish it had been in a tent in the middle of Leicester Square.
