REVIEW: AFRIKA AFRIKA - Jaw-dropping feats make this a winner

REVIEW: AFRIKA AFRIKA (Trafford Centre)

THE evening begins with a chap whose body is a whole lot bendier than it ought to be, and ends with a woman so jaw-droppingly contortable she could easily be a cut-and-shut job from two other people — with important structural bits left out.

In between, this German-derived African circus might owe as much to Chinese acrobatics and juggling and US breakdance and basketball (albeit on unicycles) as it does to the “dark” continent, but even if the African theme is just that — a theme — then it is one whose loud ovations are well deserved.

This isn’t an actual African circus, rather a Western circus performed by a huge cast of African performers and based on African animals, colours, costumes and especially dance and music traditions, making for a show of rare energy, rhythm and life.

The publicity suggests a cross between The Lion King’s dance and spectacle and Cirque du Soleil’s visual splendour, and the point is well made. It has the former’s colourfulness and spectacle, and some excellent circus acts.

But where the Canadian circus is mysterious, AA is direct; where CdS imbues a sense of wonder, AA is happy, simple, unbelievably energetic and totally feelgood.

There are brilliant acts: South African contortionist Nokulunga Buthelezi is one of the human wonders of the world. The opening act, Angolan Makaya Dimbelolo, is extraordinary enough, his joints opening to allow his entire body through an unstrung tennis racquet, but Buthelezi is something else: ever tried sitting on your own head?

That’s not forgetting the Ethiopian juggler who keeps eight tennis balls flying at once; a Chinese pole-acrobatics team with a few tricks even the Chinese don’t use, and a pot-balancing chap from Ghana who keeps nine large pots spinning at once.

What’s wrong with it? Well, the chairs are pretty uncomfortable. But nothing else that matters.