Cirque Enchantment at Lighthouse Poole Review
FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Helen O
What better way to kick-start the half term holiday fun, than a bit of quality mum and son time watching Cirque Enchantment at Lighthouse, Poole this evening. The show is back by popular demand and stopped off for one night only as part of their national tour, which is ending soon, on 22nd February 2025.
The show was held in the Concert Hall, which is a brilliant performance space, with great views of the stage, wherever you are seated. We were in the stalls to the right hand side of the stage with plenty of leg room, we settled down and couldn’t wait for the show to start.
Cirque Enchantment tells the story of a little girl with a big imagination, who enters a frozen circus wonderland and navigates a path of good versus evil. This little girl encounters a selection of weird and wonderful characters along her way.
The first thing to note about the show, is that the performance does not use spoken word or narrator. The entire performance is delivered via song, circus performance and the clever use of colour, light and dark.
Although initially I was a little concerned that the show was primarily going to be a song-based performance, with a smattering of circus performance, as it was a little slow to get going. I didn’t need to be concerned at all, as the action soon started and the momentum of the circus performance didn’t let up for the remainder of the show. Wow, what skills, athleticism and pure talent! It really was a feast for all the senses.
It’s hard to pick our favourite moment, as there was so many different styles of performance from juggling fire, fire-eating, aerial gymnastics on the silks, hula hooping, trapeze act, balancing and even flaming batons! There was so much to see, it was fabulous. Our favourite bit was the gentleman who spun around in the giant light-up hula hoop, which we’ve never seen before. So impressive!
Although the vocal performances were good and generally strong, I found the 2 vocalists a little bit distracting in some parts and would have preferred that the performers were allowed to take centre-stage.
The show was brilliantly choreographed, but if I hadn’t known the premise of it beforehand, I wouldn’t have been able to follow the story being told. The use of the costumes and lighting cleverly depicted the path of good versus evil.
The soundtrack was full and eclectic featuring a range of wonderful songs from ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, through to ‘Relight My Fire’ and some more modern day tunes, such as ‘Chandelier’ and ‘Titanium’. It was the perfect way to while away a Winter’s evening.
The show lasted for 2 hours with a 20 minute interval in the middle. which was just about right for the type of show. It is billed as family entertainment and that’s absolutely right. There isn’t any age guidance, but my son who’s 6 years old loved it and found it absolutely inspiring. Based on the length of the show, I don’t think I’d take children much younger than my son, as I know my younger daughter wouldn’t have the concentration for it. In saying that, all of the children in the audience were brilliantly behaved and completely engaged with the action on stage. I think the show time of 5pm worked really well too, given that it was aimed at families.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this evening and my son found a lot of the performers inspiring! We would highly recommend the show to everyone. Tickets for under 12’s cost £23.65 and £34.65 for adults, which I think is quite high, but in saying that, we really enjoyed the show.
Rating: 4/5
RRP: Tickets cost from £34.65 (adults) and from £23.65 (under 12s) ~ This event was for one night only at Lighthouse.
Address: Lighthouse, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG
Photo Credit: Lighthouse, Poole
Full Tour Dates: 23rd January 2025-22nd February 2025 and details can be found at: https://www.cirqueenchantment.co.uk/