What: DNA

Who: SA Premiere

When: 25 February 2019 (Last show tonight!)

Where: The Vagabond at The Garden of Unearthly Delights

Cost: See website for details

This is the most entertaining circus show I’ve seen at the Adelaide Fringe, the troupe of DNA brings you a refreshing and enjoyable hour with their high energy levels, and charismatic personas. It is not your traditional circus affair, in combination with aspects of physical theatre and exhilarating acrobatics, they achieve a new perspective on how circus can be presented. 

Highlighting the theme of DNA and genetics, the group of performers were incredibly diverse in their: appearance, shape and size! It created unlikely pairings in the execution of tricks and stunts, creating an interesting visual spectacle.

I appreciated the utilisation of music to tell the story of the performance. The way that the performers interacted with the soundtrack kept the performance moving forward and aided in the portrayal of emotion despite the lack of verbal communication. 

The variety of stunts displayed was admirable, and their employment of stage props to highlight their physical abilities and impressive physiques was marvellous. There was plenty of flipping, spinning, and throwing of bodies across the stage that they had the audience moving their heads back and forth trying to catch every corner of the stage. 

I felt the performance was rather chaotic at times because they were exploring so many different themes about an individual’s DNA. I understood the message they were trying to bring across but when shrunk down to an hour it was difficult to do it justice. Furthermore, there were a couple of segments that provided comedic relief which I thought were odd, but ultimately they added a quirky spin to the show and stepped away from the traditional ‘seriousness’ circus performances I had previously seen. 

During the show there was constant applause, gasps of awe and laughter throughout. This was only made possible because the performance was entertaining and had us sitting on the edge of our seats. Tonight is their final show, so make sure you make it down to the Garden!

4/5 stars

– by Rachel Wong