Fright or Flight

If you see anyone walking round with bruises on their limbs this festival, there's a chance they may belong to circus group 3 is a Crowd.

Beginning with a particularly vicious three-way game of Are You There Moriarty?, the cast wallop each other silly with rolled-up newspapers before descending into an acrobatic tangle of limbs, topped at either end with chicken foot-style yellow rubber gloves. This sets the tone for a combination of circus arts and elfin mischief that flutters around the motif of birds and their offspring, topped off by a delightful score.

Apart from the obvious euphemism for women, it's an inventive comparison to draw with circus performers. Masters of both awkwardness (in clowning) and grace (in the air), circus artists are trained to comically strut and waddle as well as soar.

This must be the only show at the Fringe—this year at least—where you can watch a woman laying a rubber egg, at a most uncomfortable-looking angle, then later dexterously juggle half a dozen of them with her full body.

Bianca Mackail gives such an elegant turn on the aerial hoop you almost forget to watch Rockie Stone plodding round the stage below, all four limbs balancing precariously on the tops of bottles.

There are a few wobbles, but only the kind that remind you how close circus performers come to the edge of their comfort zones every time they set foot onstage. And their presence early on in the show later contributes to a heart-stopping finale.