Bianco

This is far more than first-class acrobatics; it’s an exhilarating rush of movement and emotion that whirls you up in awe and drops you into moments of sublime beauty. NoFit State Circus is back in town and it’s waiting for you to enter the tent, buy your popcorn and open your eyes.

Originally produced last year with the Eden Project, this redeveloped touring show has the wild energy of a travelling carnival. The atmosphere buzzes as the performers jostle and laugh with each other before throwing themselves into a series of astonishing routines.

Backed by a great live band, there’s a boisterous, rocky vibe as riggers shift four huge towers around to create new performance landscapes. We move with them – tourists in a madcap world of high-flying beach bathers and acrobats swinging from enormous ceiling lights.

Firenza Guidi’s production throws life into the ring in all of its manic restlessness. It’s clownish, comic and stunning to behold. A sequence in which a French-speaking female performer clambers distractedly over tables in a café is pure farce scaffolded by incredible poise.

But if this show is a tribute to the power of the human body, it’s also an incredibly moving evocation of the fragility of human existence. There are moments of lyrical beauty and heart-breaking sadness when the floor clears, a hush falls and a solitary performer spins poetry in the fading light.

Simply put, Bianco is extraordinary.