There's a moment about 30 minutes into Limbo The Return when a solo acrobat dressed in a white shirt and black pants begins to ascend a pole. He's so fleet-footed, it looks at times like he is floating on air, moving in slow motion. We can see he's not tethered or tied down at any point, as he gracefully moves up and down the 10-metre pole strung from the roof of the Spiegeltent.
While the acrobat, Frenchman Mikael Bres, has all of the audience's attention, the music, played by a live band, invades our perceptions. "Will you watch me as I fall..."
Yes, that's really the line. Among the bells, the folksy syncopation of the polymba percussive instrument, and a tantalising voiced "la la la la la la".
The acrobat comes to the ground, unbuttons a couple of buttons and goes back up the pole. He taunts the audience for minutes, more unbuttoning, more climbing, and finally the shirt comes off.
That's Limbo, messing with our senses, our reality. Making fun sexy.
Scott Maidment created the first Limbo show more than a decade ago, opening it in London and then touring it constantly for more than two years. He is a director of Strut & Fret, the production company that has brought Limbo The Return to Newcastle.
LIMBO'S SOUNDTRACK
"One of the things that people come away with from the [new] show is, of course, amazing aerials and acrobatics," he says. "But when you come into the world of Limbo, you are really immersed in the soundtrack. I often say you can actually come in, and close your eyes if you wanted to, and you go on this musical journey..."
The show includes six touring professionals who can do acrobatics, sing, dance and have a few other special talents. They include Mikael Bres, from Marseille in France, who has performed in hundreds of Limbo shows; British circus artist Ben Loader; Australian singer and dancer Clara Fable; Austrian-based dancer and acrobat Maria Moncheva; Spanish acrobat David Marco Pintado; and Australian-based dancer Hilton Dennis.
The band of three features composer and musician Sxip Shirey from New York, and Australians Mick Stuart on percussion and Grant Arthur on sousaphone. With an original soundtrack, they are a vital core of the show.
Sxip Shirey calls its "djanka music". There are more than 50 instruments used, including bells, Moogs, resophonic guitar, harmonicas, sirens, a Pyrex bowl, a jelly mould, whistles.
Mick Stuart also plays a polymba, an instrument he invented.
"I try to imagine - I love hip-hop, I love New Orleans jazz band music, I love electronic music and I love Balkan music - this is sort of, like, my version of all of that together, it's been brewing for years," Shirey says.
"So it's harmonicas, our sousaphone player, electronics, often a human beatboxer and a funky drummer. I've played this music in underground parties in New York City, in Berlin, in London and in New Orleans itself.
"I try to imagine there's a world where there's early rock 'n' roll. Except every bar has a sousaphone player in it, with a harmonica player playing through electronics, and a human beatboxer, it's not a big deal.
"I think there's an authenticity to this because I've been doing it for so damned long. And it's funky and sexy, and funny at the same time."
The two Australian musicians, Mick Stuart and Grant Arthur, are among the best in the business.
"I would say the Australians have an inventiveness with physical objects and instrumentation," Shirey says.
"Mick Stuart has a polymba - 15 kalimbas with humbucker guitar pickets with a spring wire. It's very quiet. But it's like putting your hands on a Rhodes piano. And it's a dirty sound, beautiful and succulent. It's incredible. It's an amazing experimental instrument.
"If I play with my New York City band, the sound is different. Both these guys bring so much to the table. The music gets influenced wherever it's at, and I play this a lot in Australia and it is definitely a factor."
Says Scott Maidment: "In the show, at one point every person on stage either sings or plays an instrument, so it really is a huge array of music they have in the show as well as tap dancing."
MORE NUANCE
Limbo has more nuance that the shows Strut & Fret has brought to Newcastle in recent times. The Party and Blanc en Blanc Encore were both full of bawdy jokes, crowd interaction as well as acrobatics and dance - and the music was pre-recorded.
Limbo has more style, and the live music is a factor. The tempo changes with the acts, and the mix feels different. Of course, the fire-breathing act in Limbo featuring Clara Fable is a show stopper by any standard.
"The cast is extraordinary," says Maidment, a showbiz genius with years of experience. "It's a bit like making a good cake. If you start with some amazing ingredients, you can whisk it and stir it and end up with a great cake. That's what this is about."
The company has six running shows around the world right now, including three on cruise ships. Limbo will play Sydney after Newcastle, based at the Grand Electric.
"Blanc we thought would play there for six weeks, it just played for 60," Maidment says. "I feel pretty certain people are going to love Limbo as much."
Although they have a decade of bringing the Spiegeltent to Newcastle, this is the third show Strut & Fret have brought to the city in the past 12 months.
"We've got a great following in Newcastle," Maidment has said on numerous occasions. "It's a very festive thing going to the Spiegeltent."
He's confident the strong relationship will continue.
"We're hoping to come back for New Annual [cultural festival in September]," Maidment says. "It's possible. Newcastle audiences love Spiegeltent and our shows. We want to keep coming back here. You're only as good as your last show, that's what they say."
