Attached

With all the charm and energy of street entertainment, Tiger Circus (in association with UK-based Lost in Translation) have combined the adrenaline factor of high risk acrobatics with playful scientific exploration to create a nearly wordless experiential lesson in practical physics. It is delightfully funny, while giving room for deeper reflections on force and effort too. Company co-founder Manu Tiger is joined by Massimiliano Rossetti, who fills the role previously created by Magnus Bjøru perfectly. The pair are a living demonstration of action and reaction, gradually introducing parts to build increasingly complex Rube Goldberg constructions until every object in the room is utilised, including us—the audience—as essential components.

My body is flooded with natural thrill hormones again and again until withdrawal symptoms begin to hit during the slower sections, where anticipation for the next experiment is coaxed out through the intrigue of preparation, accompanied by electric sound and silly jingles.

Equal and opposite reactions are displayed without ostentation through a range of teeterboard-based acrobatics, which include tiny scaled models that flip juggling balls in fascinating patterns, and a large curved metal bowl that adds extra frission to the exchanges between small wiry Tiger and massive Rossetti. Sports stadium floodlights and a training gym aesthetic are a neat reminder of the athletic edge that circus performers carry with them, while the open responsiveness of the two men connects us on a human level. Attachment, in this show, goes beyond the literal velcro suits, and reveals the natural laws that govern our physical existence.