A fantastic spectacle

3:47pm Tuesday 26th August 2008

IT has to be said it would be nigh on impossible to watch Afrika! Afrika! without a permanent grin on your face and hands that are raw from clapping.

There were so many highlights during the two-hour spectacle of this magical circus show that has been on a gruelling run at the Trafford Centre throughout the summer, that it is hard to know where to start.

The Human Pyramids from Gabon and Tanzania and the Pole Acrobatics leave your heart pounding with adrenaline. Never, it seems, have so many bodies clambered and climbed with such grace and precision.

It is impossible to believe that three of the ‘pyramids’ could fall to the gound like felled trees after previously standing three men high.

Then there are the unicycling basketball players who race around at breakneck speed giving the notion of a slam dunk a whole new meaning. It was enough to make the Boston Celtics take note.

Watching uber-talented contortionists Huit Huit and Nokulunga Buthelezi was not for the faint hearted. The two performers contort their bodies in ways that seem to be unfeasible. Huit Huit squeezes his entire body through the head of a tennis raquet and Nokulunga, sinewy as a snake, twists her torso so it appears to face in the opposite direction to the lower part of her body.

And then there is the singing and dancing, which is joyous and uiplifting and is carried through by fabulously authentic and perfectly composed words, rhythmn and beats.

The performance resulted in a standing ovation, which is undoubtedly the case every time the talented cast take to the tented big top.

Afrika! Afrika! runs until September 6 at the Trafford Centre. For tickets call 0844 847 2473 or 0844 847 1554.

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