Artistic Director & Producer: Tom Rack
Auteur& Director: Firenza Guidi
Composer: David Murray
The vibe from the start, in the Big Top tent on Nimmo’s Pier in the Claddagh in Galway, is raggle-taggle carnival meets 1930s Berlin, as NoFit State Circus present Sabotage to a packed-to-the-rafters audience. Inside the tent there are metal towers that reach to the rooftop and a large ring fixture high up waiting for its time to shine. The company are stomping around before the show starts, engaging with the audience, ‘selling’ their wares and doing the final set up, establishing their slightly louche, rebellious attitude as befits their situation as genuine travelling-circus folk. There is an atmosphere of real excitement and anticipation as the first acrobatic act begins: a girl with a topknot in her hair swings and twirls, snakes up and down a rope and contorts her lithe body into incredible positions, connected to the high wires by a hook in her topknot (ouch!).
The acrobats are fabulous, not only do they perform amazing acts of physical dexterity, strength and balance, they inhabit cheeky defiant personas as they do so, their costuming seemly reflecting a fin de siècle era with a slightly grubby understated aesthetic. Movement is sinuous and at times balletic, as they ‘dance’ to the sounds of a live band who are worth going to see as a standalone. The music, composed by David Murray, takes from multiple genres, there are Celtic-inspired jigs, jazzy sounds complete with trumpet playing, and excellent singers whose words and tone blend perfectly with the overall ambiance. There are some awe-inspiring acts and some which are beautiful to watch, such as the ladders sequence where performers use ladders suspended in air to showcase their agility and grace while we get to see the support mechanisms keeping them suspended as other performers scuttle like spiders up and down the imposing towers, controlling the suspension wires.
There are sequences with balls (keepie-uppies), hoops and an extraordinary highwire act where the performer treats the wire like a trampoline; three widows dressed in black fling off their mourning act and dance energetically; a strongwoman piece challenges gender stereotypes. There are some more grounded elements where performers scuttle around on skateboards, like subterranean mining creatures and a box that becomes an army truck, then bus, then cargo container, the dramatic meaning of which is hard to grasp for this reviewer but which is perhaps aligned with the name of the show, Sabotage? A dramatic arc of some sort is missing from the production but there is real enjoyment, wonder and admiration to be gleaned from the performance by NoFit Circus, presented here by Galway International Arts Festival.
The show is approximately two hours long, in two acts with an interval where refreshments are available; the first act is more dynamic while the second act is shorter and less focused on aerial acrobatics but features all the performers in the ring for some fun and high jinks. The Welsh-based circus puts on a great show, the music and the band are excellent and there is an enthralling atmosphere here in the Big Top as part of Galway’s Arts Festival 2025.
Runs Until 27th July 2025.
