From the archive: The elephant vanishes: how a circus family went on the run – podcast
Fuerza Bruta: Aven review – big on spectacle, hollow of heart
Barnum review – roll up for some old-world big top magic
Edinburgh festival 2024: 12 tips for families
Acrobatic theatre troupe Fuerza Bruta on breaking barriers – and the fourth wall
Acrobats on a bridge, dance in the cathedral: Lausanne’s free festival of priceless performance
Tweedy’s Massive Circus review – a lovable lark from start to finish
June 2024
Edinburgh festival 2024: dance and circus shows to jump into this summer
A searching circus piece about refugees in limbo, acrobats confronting middle age and supreme silliness from a Tokyo troupe are among the international offerings
Yes festival review – a marvellous appreciation of Molly Bloom
A two-year celebration of the centenary of James Joyce’s Ulysses culminates in a female-led, cross-border, multidisciplinary festival dedicated to the protagonist’s wife
Edinburgh festival 2024: the best comedy, theatre and dance already reviewed
Five-star standup, late-night debauchery, staggering circus tricks … as the arts spectacular approaches, here are some of the shows rated by our writers
May 2024
The Nose Dive Assembly review – a gen Z take on the trad touring circus
The Revel Puck Circus big top rolls into town, featuring fantastic acrobatics, whimsical clowning and admirable ethics
April 2024
Sophie’s Surprise 29th review – thrilling birthday bash of circus and cabaret
There are shocks aplenty as daredevils perform death-defying acts hair-raisingly close to the audience
March 2024
Shock of the old
Shock of the old: nine disturbing, disruptive and demonic clowns
For centuries, they have been subversive speakers of truth to power – and a focus for our fears. Why do clowns provoke such strong emotions?
The Guardian view on opera and circus: a populist pairing that scales the heights
Editorial: Featuring awe-inspiring aerial antics, Welsh National Opera’s Death In Venice shows how innovative the art form can still be
‘It’s a beehive’: Tero Saarinen’s mighty Macbeth puts Helsinki’s first dance house on the map
As he stages Shakespeare’s bracing tragedy with a cast who share the main role, the choreographer and his company’s managing director Iiris Autio discuss the upswing in Finnish dance
February 2024
Who dares clown around with Waiting for Godot?
Letters: Sarah-Jane Watkinson, Brendan Mulcahy and Jude Emmet reply to a letter that called for adding circus stunts to Samuel Beckett’s play
Ockham’s Razor: Tess review – circus spin finds light and laughter in Thomas Hardy’s tale
This company’s skills cleverly animate the characters in a dreamlike production that does not blunt the novel’s tragedy
January 2024
Prime movers: the German circus exploring Amazon through acrobatics
Rimini Protokoll’s new show is part of a series of performances inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses and draws a connection between its Aeolus episode and hypercapitalism
December 2023
‘More showreel than show’: inside Luna Park’s new $15m theatre
Sydney’s Big Top is now home to a ‘magic box’ that hosts immersive light and sound projections. It’s opened with a circus experience that’s both eye-popping and confusing
