Old-style circus is so 2015. This year’s model, from Zippos Cirque Berserk, shows the old-style big top show is getting cooler, faster, stronger. Whether better is another matter. But if you are looking for a show to keep the children amused during school half term, look no further: there are plenty of matinees over the holidays.This spectacular is great for adults who like circus shtick, full of “ooh-ah” jaw-dropping moments. Zippos does tradition with a twist. No elephants but a giant robot; no lions but roaring motorbikes; no trapeze artists but a lot of aerial tricks, all done to the soundtrack of pounding rock.The showstopper may be the motorcyclists. They are on at the end of the first half. One drives into a transparent globe, going at 60mph and so fast enough to be able to loop to its apex. He’s then joined by a second, and they both run rings around each other, miraculously without crashing in the tiny space. At the end of the show, a girl joins them in “The Globe of Terror” and finally four motorcyclists from the Lucius Team are all tearing around inside it like angry wasps, amazingly without collisions.Before this, we get Germaine Delbosq from France, who juggles with flames using both her feet and hands; and Odka from Mongolia who does handstands while firing an arrow with perfect aim – using her toes. The Timbuktu Tumblers from Africa limbo through blazing poles while the Tropicana Troupe from Cuba perform amazing springboard jumps. It is all done so quickly; yet one mistake could result in serious injury.This is a mix-and-match collection of mainly good acts, some of which have made it into previous productions. Some would fit effortlessly into many circus style revues, or even “The Illusionists,” which also had precision bow-and-arrows and more.The giant robot strides around menacingly as if in search of the story told in the version at Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland.The high-octane big top stunts are punctuated by slower music and tragic-comic sequences by Tweedy, from Scotland, who is described as an award-winning clown. Some of the kids around me watch him with pained smiles. Tweedy concludes with a little tightrope walking, gradually pulling out a rope that says “The End.” It isn’t quite, and the kids also cheer up because the motorcycles are back for one more thrilling lap of honor.Zippos Cirque Berserk is at the Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street, London, WC2A 2HT, to Wednesday February 24.
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