The Circus

Cheer – as another daredevil takes the floor in a spangly cape. Gasp – as they promise to defy the laws of physics before your very eyes. Cackle – as each of their stunts turns out to be more rubbish than the last.

That’s the name of the game at The Circus, one of two showpiece extravaganzas being staged by the Invisible Dot. Like Mr Swallow: The Musical it’s populated by a grab bag of their regular collaborators, with Rob Crouch's maniacal ringmaster just about holding it all together. A lot of love has gone into making it feel like the real deal, complete with a nimble-fingered accordionist, a big top and a cannon (for blasting Paul Foot into the stratosphere). Each lineup features half of the dozen-act roster, and all concerned have had immense fun inventing alter-egos.

Tonight’s undisputed stars are Natasia Demetriou and Ellie White, as the Sexy American Girl Cousins (to whom none of these four words apply). They’re indentured to the circus—or “keerkoos”—to perform an erotic ribbon dance, a duty fulfilled with agonised, queasy reluctance. Their mangled Mediterranean accents and graceless acrobatics have the audience in fits. Also excellent is Joseph Morpurgo as the delusional Elemento, advancing his firebreather father’s legacy by mastering wind, water and earth. He plays it with flailing limbs and ludicrous hyperbole that shows off a knack for colourful writing.

Elsewhere there's lion tamer Tim FitzHigham, ploughing on manfully without his beast, human cannonball Paul Foot slurring out the strange fates of his predecessors, and Phil Wang's Unbelievable Hao spouting confused Confucianisms. It’s enough to make feigned incompetence look easy, until Eric Lampaert arrives with a sword-swallower act lacking the knockabout charm of the rest. Despite his Frenchman’s obnoxiousness, he can’t stop self-consciousness seeping through, and it’s the only turn received with anything less than a hearty hurrah.