Revel Puck Circus: The Wing Scuffle Spectacular

Out of the eight words in this show’s strangely convoluted title, ‘puck’, is what describes it best – spritely, mischievous and the root word for punk. The Revel Puck Circus is made up of a rag-tag group of young circus performers in patched-up costumes who perform a dizzying variety of acrobatic acts with Arielle Lauzon’s quietly non-conforming clown serving both narrative and laughs. 

The group are relatively new to the circus scene, founded in 2018 in east London with this being their first Fringe. The circus acts themselves are pretty classic – rola bola, ariel swing and juggling to name a few. Fiona Thornhill’s cyr wheel is one particular standout in the show, gliding and swooping around the stage with ease. There are some less impressive and more tired feats like the-big-person-holding-a-little-person-above-their-head-while-they-do-alright-acrobatics act but these are far outweighed by the good ones. 

The show could also do with a rewrite of their narrative-led sections. There seems to be some sort of overarching theme of ‘facing your fears’ but this is never fully stated and only explored in the most basic of fashions, often drawing out the lengths of acts for way too long. The clown’s skits about the subject are serviceable enough but there is far more narrative depth that could be explored, even for a family-friendly show like this.

What The Revel Puck Circus does do brilliantly though is show how comradeship and camaraderie is central to facing your fears. Throughout the show, cast members support and aid each other both physically and mentally as they perform their sections. The main act of the show involves the whole cast and is a genuine testament to the teamwork, trust and support that goes into being a circus troupe.