In The Arms of Morpheous | ARC Circus

There was something very satisfying about watching Robbie Curtis, the sole performer in In The Arms of Morpheus, float and bounce around in a magical dreamscape. His movement was very fluid and light and the first trick with a big, bouncy cloud of fabric was such a good introduction into his world.  Curtis combined some really impressive swinging pole, tumbling and juggling with a lot of well done clowning.

This image + cover image: Kai Leishman

I wasn’t expecting to like the clown aspects of his show as much as I did, but Curtis's performance was so charming that I found it really easy to laugh along. His overexaggerated facial expressions and constant flip flopping between confusion and blind determination had me giggling. There was even a slight of hand magic trick in the middle of the show that absolutely delighted me, I have no idea how he did it.  The character work strung the tricks together into a narrative to follow and although it was a loose one, I personally always enjoy that in circus shows.

Even as someone who doesn’t know much about the physicality of circus, I was captivated by the amount of control that Curtis had in some of the stunning tricks like the swinging pole. The tricks are staged with a set-up and a payoff, and there were a couple of tricks where I felt like the payoff was predictable, so I wasn’t as engaged as I was with the others. This only happened in small parts of the show and overall it didn’t detract from the feeling of wonder I had while watching.

Being able to switch off and watch something that is actually magical is very special and if that little bit of escapism appeals to you I would definitely recommend In The Arms of Morpheus.