REVIEW: NoFit State Circus’s carnation – Brighton Festival
“And now,” as Maurice Sendak wrote in the famous children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, “let the wild rumpus start.”
Few opening lines could better capture the anarchic, joyful and gloriously unruly spirit of carnation, the world premiere production from NoFit State Circus now dazzling audiences under the Big Top at Black Rock as part of this year’s Brighton Festival.
Tucked away at the far end of Brighton seafront, Black Rock has always had a slightly liminal quality, a place more readily associated with ravers greeting the sunrise (guilty as charged, your honour), sea swimmers braving cold water, wandering dog walkers and Brighton’s unofficial naturist stretch than high-profile cultural spectacle. Yet somehow that edge-of-town atmosphere makes carnation as a production feel exactly where it belongs. A little wild, a little rebellious, slightly untamed, skirting the edges, and a world apart from the ordinary.
This is circus, but not in the commonly perceived view of circus. There are no neat sequins, no ringmaster cracking a whip, or safe nostalgia. Instead, carnation arrives like a beautiful act of organised chaos: immersive, higgledy-piggledy, playful, political, sensual, funny and, at times, breathtakingly audacious. It is a production that pulses with life, and a troupe at the top of their game.
For forty years, NoFit State Circus has been reshaping what circus can be. Founded in 1986 by five friends with a radical artistic vision, the Cardiff-based company has built an international reputation for tearing down the conventions of traditional circus and replacing them with something more theatrical, immersive and deeply human. Their work has always carried a sense that circus is not simply entertainment but a way of life with a philosophy rooted in trust, collaboration, physical excellence and collective endeavour. That ethos is felt keenly from the moment of arrival.
This is not the first residency the company has had in our city, and they are most welcome for this year’s 60th anniversary of Brighton Festival. From the warmth of the welcome at the entrance to the easy camaraderie among cast and crew, there is a sense of genuine community that runs through the whole production. Nothing feels slick for slickness’s sake. Instead, there is a rough-edged authenticity, a sense that this is a company built on mutual reliance, friendship and extraordinary trust. That trust is essential because carnation as a show is built on risk.
Not reckless risk, but exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat human daring. Counterbalance work that seems to defy physics. Towering aerial sequences that suspend bodies impossibly high above the audience. Astonishing feats of strength and muscular control performed with grace, humour and startling tenderness. There are moments where performers appear almost weightless, and others where the sheer force and discipline of the human body is front and centre.
What is particularly refreshing is how bodies are presented. This is not a show populated by identikit performers sculpted to a narrow ideal. The company showcasing the production carnation embrace difference in shape, size, style and physicality, and is richer for it. Women and men alike perform extraordinary acts of power and agility in a powerful awe-inspiring way that shows that strength doesn’t need to be gendered or grace feminised. Physical excellence is shown in many forms, and in a way that feels political in its diversity. Watching huge feats of human strength and skill is awe-inspiring, and the physics of designing the rigging is to be applauded in supporting this level of acrobatic athleticism. Rigging Design by Lyndall Merry, Lee Tinnion, Tom Rack, and the accompanying atmospheric purple lighting design from Sam Eccles and Firenza Guidi helps support this artistic vision.
That political undercurrent is woven throughout. Created and directed by Firenza Guidi, carnation explores rebellion, resistance and hope in turbulent times. Drawing inspiration from 20th-century dystopian fiction while speaking directly to contemporary unease, it asks what collective action might look like in a fractured world. What holds communities together? How do people resist collapse? What does solidarity feel like in the body?
These are serious ideas, but carnation never becomes earnest or heavy-handed. It wears its politics lightly, often with wit and absurdity. Its rallying cry “The revolution is coming and I have nothing to wear”, captures that perfectly: sly, theatrical, playful and sharply observant. There is humour threaded throughout the production moments of slapstick silliness, comic timing, visual jokes and outright ridiculousness, which keeps the atmosphere buoyant even when darker themes emerge. A running theme of performers wearing animal masks feels like a nod towards George Orwell’s dystopian novel Animal Farm, and a key scene has a whiff of a communist May Day parade, or at least an old school protest, before then turning in moment into a giant playful seesaw which brings the audience back to the delights of the physicality of circus.
At the heart of carnation is an exceptional live band supported by Composer/MD David Murray, whose musicians seem almost impossibly versatile, swapping instruments with increasing speed and effortless skill across the two-part performance. These were a delight to watch for themselves alone. At one moment the soundtrack feels urgent and propulsive, at another melancholic and tender, then suddenly joyous, anarchic or dreamlike, moving into songs to accompany a skit, then a musical backdrop, followed by a reggae beat for some acrobatic tumbles. This music offers an added layer to the show, becoming the beating heart of the whole spectacle.
The multilingual texture of the production adds another layer of richness. Snatches of language, fragments of song, rhythms and voices from different traditions create the sense of an international circus language, one rooted not in words alone, but in movement, rhythm, risk and shared humanity. I wanted to run off and join them, but given that I groan getting out of bed in the morning, it’s unlikely I can do an aerial upside-down handstand to gain access to this delightful world.
What lingers most, however, is joy. Not superficial cheerfulness, but genuine joie de vivre. The audience whooped and cheered with the radiant pleasure of watching people making something extraordinary together in real time. The performers’ delight in movement, in risk, in one another’s skill, in collective creation, is infectious. The viewers’ response was engaged and vocal throughout with laughter, gasps, applause, wonder.
There are moments that may challenge younger or more sensitive viewers. Although recommended for ages seven and over, this is not a sanitised family show, and there may be a few scenes which some find more challenging to view in their adult nature, but that boundary-pushing spirit is part of what makes it feel vital. Part of that is showing all shapes and types of bodies in all their glory. This show, carnation, refuses tameness, embracing unpredictability, sensuality, darkness, absurdity and exuberance in equal measure.
The set design was clever and intuitive and offered inspiring ways to present the show in multitudinous ways, thanks to Set Designers Tom Rack and Iolo Lavender, and the costume design by Rhi Matthews added to this too. By the time its final spectacular scene lands and it truly does land magnificently, with the whole troupe participation alongside an aerial rig I’ve not encountered before, what remains is a sense of having witnessed something larger than performance: a temporary community built through daring, trust, music and imagination. We loved it!
Wild, witty, rebellious and wonderfully alive, carnation is circus with heart, muscle, humour and political bite. One of the standout events of this year’s Brighton Festival — and very much worth the trip to Black Rock.
Highly recommended.
carnation runs from Saturday 2 to Monday 25 May in the Big Top at Black Rock as part of Brighton Festival.
Details
NoFit State Circus’s carnation – Brighton Festival
Dates: carnation runs from Saturday 2 to Monday 25 May in the Big Top at Black Rock as part of Brighton Festival. Sat 9, Sat 16, Sat 23 May, 2pm & 7.30pm. Wed 6–Fri 8, Wed 13–Fri 15, Wed 20–Fri 22 May, 7.30pm. Sun 10, Sun 17, Sun 24, Mon 25 May, 3pm.
Recommended for ages seven and over. Performances continue throughout May, with afternoon and evening shows across weekends and selected weekdays.
Venue: Big Top at Black Rock, Madeira Drive, Brighton, BN2 1FY
Tickets: Tickets start from £17.50, with concessions, under-30s pricing and family tickets available.
Accessible: Details here
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