A show with acrobats and circus acts sparking you to think about diversity, microaggressions, and bullying? Really? YES. I am here for it, and you should be too.

SHOWDOWN is a show for the whole family, and just like Sesame Street, there are layers for the adults. This is a show that will make you think about power dynamics, and the price we are willing to pay for fame.

“Who will be the next face of Circus?”

Six acrobat performers compete in a Britain’s Got Talent-type of competition, with an over-the-top, beguiling MC (Rhys Hollis) and faceless “Circus Authorities”. That’s the conceit of SHOWDOWN, the current high-energy offering from UPSWING, an innovative circus company with a commitment to diversity of talent and thought, now in their 15th year.

On the surface, this is a fun show with amazing performances and feats of strength and flexibility, with a jovial sense of competitiveness. As the show progresses, we realise there is something else at play here.

All the performers have been stripped of their names. We only know them by colour and stereotypes: Red (mama’s boy, and she’s in the audience), Orange (over the hill, last chance at fame now she is past 30), Yellow (hot Italian), Green (has a girlfriend!), Blue (pretty girl), and Purple (sob story, which we don’t ever get to hear).

At first, the MC makes it seem like a friendly competition, but bit by bit, he adds in subtle jabs at their expense, pitting them against each other. He encourages us to think that we, the audience, have a say in who will win, but the “Circus Authorities” continually override the audience’s votes.

After seven dizzying rounds of incredible tricks, the MC makes two offers that draw a line in the sand, and the performers face a choice: continue the competition or stand up to the bully. How much is too much? What price to pay for fame and fortune?

Rhys Hollis as the MC walks the fine line of befriending the audience and keeping us energised, all the while undermining the cast until the tipping point. It’s a deft performance, one that keeps us wondering if we, the audience, are complicit in the “othering” of the performers.

Shane Hampden (Red) is a spirited B-boy flyer, and Rebecca Solomon (Orange) graceful on the rope. Gracie Hill (Blue) is strong and playful on the trapeze. These two women have a mesmerising routine on the pole – a dance of pure collaboration rather than competition. Loris Di Via (Yellow) is effortless in his flips (no small feat, as he is very tall!), and Kussyl Amara (Green) a strongman comedian, often the base of balancing acts.

Jaide Annalise (Purple), though, truly steals the show with a ballet-like act on the Cyr wheel – a routine that had the audience gasping.

This is a show for everyone – skilful in its feats of human physicality, elevated by great Hip-Hop and Afrobeat music from London-based Afrikan Boy, and most of all, brilliant at making us think.

Enjoy the spectacle. These performers are incredible. And after, when the wonder has worn off, consider the stereotypes, the shift in how we talk about diversity, and how much of our soul we are willing to gamble for fame and power.

SHOWDOWN is on tour until 24th July 2025. For information and booking: upswing.org.uk

Words by Rachel Fowler

Photography Dan Martin