(4 / 5)

It’s nothing new to combine classical music with acrobatics. In recent years, the Southbank Centre have embarked on combined multi-disciplinary acts together, often with classical or orchestral music with another art form. The blend of these goes well together and very complimentary art forms.

But what if I told you that the acrobatic performers were also the musicians? I hope the news of this blows your mind as much as it blew mine to see. Tale of the Firebird takes on the fairy-tale story of the Phoenix, delivering this through music and physical theatre alone. The greatest achievement in this is the ability to play the instruments perfectly through mid-contortion or being propelled into the air. The music and performance already does well to bring the story to life, making it easy to follow and understand, even if you’re not aware of the tale.

The awe inspiring performance nicely builds throughout… we start with the performers playing music but soon, the odd trick in thrown in, separate to the instruments until they combine these, then fire, then even more intricate techniques. This gentle crescendo warms us up – they don’t try anything complicated or fancy with this but the simple build is enough to shock us and be open-mouthed at their incredible abilities.

While there is a protagonist and a villain who occupy the narrative, all the performers have their moment in the light and are all as clearly talented as one another. This isn’t just a commentary on their circus skills but the fact not a single note was out of place, while upside down, mid-air, whatever it may be, was just amazing to watch. What was even more incredible was a mini-harp – I never knew this existed! With plenty of children in the audience, the audible noises of excitement and awe was only vocalising what we were all thinking.

Tale of the Firebird is unlike anything I have seen before – the existence of performers with the ability to not only perform music but to also perform body-defying tricks at the same time is so unique and so impressive to see – it has to be seen to be believed.