Home-grown productions are grabbing the spotlight in this year’s edition of the London International Mime Festival, and that includes this knowing yet gnomic entertainment from Barely Methodical Troupe.
Founded in 2013 by three talented young blokes from the National Centre for Circus Arts, the company has since established itself as a leading exponent of a brand of British contemporary circus-theatre that can be both experimental and popular. For them, and others of their generation, such traditional circus trappings as trained animals and glittery, grand-scale spectacle are unnecessary and even undesirable. Instead they tend to offer up scripted text (confidently delivered), a modicum of characterisation (often derived at least in part from performers playing up aspects of their own personality or history) and, crucially, ideas usually put across with a healthy dose of humour. As for physical virtuosity, it’s an absolute must.
