Legs On The Wall, All of Me

Review in Issue 17-2 | Summer 2005

All eyes were on Legs for their recent UK tour. With the recent high interest in hybrid circus-theatre, this was an opportunity to see the Australian leaders of the field. All of Me, directed by Nigel Jamieson, is not a new show – it has been touring for a few years and has previously come to the Edinburgh Fringe – but it feels fresh as the day it was made. Should anyone doubt that circus skills can be effectively employed in narrative storytelling, then this is the show to see. The complexities of family relationships are portrayed through acrobatic physical action, poetic text and soulful music. The set is a number of high ladders and an adjoining platform, bare at floor level other than for a standard lamp in the corner denoting domesticity. There is no denying the extraordinary level of physical skills of the company: the wondrous moment of birth, the teetering steps of toddlerhood, sibling rivalries, childhood joys, adolescent insecurities and marital bickering are played out in a fluid flow of couplings and ensemble work that exploit the inter-relationship of ground and air set up by the design of the piece, and reflecting the fear of flying versus desire to be free central theme. If there is a criticism of the show, it is that although the score is evidently a great piece of music, it is used too often as illustration: thus, when bodies soar, so does the music; when danger is imminent, this is reflected in the music. It is almost as if the physicality cannot be trusted to tell its own stories. But all in all, a wonderful show that should be seen by anyone with circus-theatre aspirations.

Presenting Artists
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Feb 2005

This article in the magazine

Issue 17-2
p. 28