Following a highly successful UK tour and an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, Ellie Dubois’ No Show now transfers to Soho Theatre. Putting female strength, skill and power centre stage, No Show joyously and heartbreakingly deconstructs superhuman circus performers and reveals what lies hidden beneath the showmanship of circus.
No Show opens with five strong, glamorous circus artists showcasing their spellbinding acrobatics and flexibility – the perfect ‘show girls’. But, after this opening number, the show starts to break down and No Show begins to unveil attempts and failures, revealing frustrations and how artists are pitted against each other. The audience learn of everything that could go wrong from finger crushing to concussion and shoulder dislocation in a Cyr Wheel act.
In this production, we are allowed the opportunity to see behind the flawless smiles and perfect execution of traditional circus performance – to see the wobbles, the pain and the real cost of aiming for perfection. This is a show for anyone who has tried, failed and failed better.
Ellie Dubois comments, “I make contemporary circus in rural Scotland, so I am delighted to be bringing No Show to Soho Theatre. Female circus shows are not often given the opportunity to play on main stages, so we are delighted that Soho Theatre believe in us enough to put us on theirs. At a time when sexual politics are being exposed in film, theatre and other art forms, it seems especially important that circus is also exploring and challenging its gender politics. We made this show before the #MeToo movement, but the world has been slow to catch up and it feels even more important and relevant than ever.”
No Show won a prestigious Herald Angel award at the Edinburgh Fringe 2017 and was also shortlisted for a Total Theatre & Jacksons Lane Award for Circus.
No Show is at Soho Theatre 22nd January to 9th February 2019.
