‘Fun and sexy’ Midnight Circus a dark delight

Dark and edgy, an experience like no other, Midnight Circus is a promenade performance that hits dizzying heights.

Taking up residency at Jacksons Lane theatre for one month, it is set to delight audiences with daring, death-defying contemporary circus acts.

“It’s dark and edgy because it’s what happens at midnight,” says co-director and choreographer Lucy Francis, who also performs.

“It’s intense, it’s a fun cabaret of lots of different acts that come together. There’s elegance, beauty, fun, there’s darkness, and there are dominatrixy type characters.

“It’s not like a theatre piece, there’s no story – it’s raw.”

Presented by Aircraft Circus, a company which runs circus classes and workshops, Midnight Circus was born out of an earlier production, Madame Pain Boudoir Circus, which Francis says was more for a “small minority audience”, with a central “quite gruesome” theme.

“This show is really high-energy, fun and sexy circus. We wanted to show all these other acts and appeal to a larger audience. We want people to come and watch the circus side of it without thinking ‘oh that’s horrible’.”

‘Dangerous’

Audiences can expect twisted contortionists, high-flying trapeze artists and lots of fire, at close proximity from the 12 artists.

“There’s a lot of aerial, a little ground but not much. We have a lot of fire, fire is a big part of our show. We like it, we find it spectacular, fun and,” she pauses, “dangerous.”

She advises a minimum age of 14 for the audience as “the whole circus is quite sexy and there’s a lot of flesh”.

The promenade performance allows audience members to walk around, with the action happening around them.

“We use the whole catwalk the length of the auditorium,” explains Francis. “The audience are in there, among us, with us. They get to be closer to the act, almost too close in a way.”

A one-man band will provide music throughout the show as well as performing one of the acts.

With a background in elite gymnastics, competing at national level, Francis got involved in the circus when she was “quite old actually” at 21 and was able to transfer her skills. “Obviously I had to train, and train hard, but it was in my body.”

Jacksons Lane is also holding evening Saturday performances with themed cocktail and drinks deals and afterhours DJ sets.

“It’s kind of a cabaret but a bit more,” adds Francis.

“We want people to have fun and really enjoy it and not have to spend too much time thinking about what the story is.”

Midnight Circus is at Jacksons Lane, 269a Archway Road, Highgate, N6, until Saturday, July 12. Wed to Fri 8pm, Sat 9pm. All tickets £20.