Tipping Point


Ockham's Razor & Turtle Arts
Great Hall, Lancaster University

Tipping Point by Ockham's Razor at Lancaster University Credit: Mark Dawson
Tipping Point by Ockham's Razor at Lancaster University Credit: Mark Dawson
Tipping Point by Ockham's Razor at Lancaster University Credit: Mark Dawson

Five performers get physical with the laws of physics in Tipping Point, another show in which circus theatre performers Ockham's Razor again push the boundaries of their art form.

Using five large metal poles, they first outline a traditional circus ring and then spend the next 65 minutes performing anything other than the accepted idea of what normally goes on within such a space.

There's no glitz, glam or showmanship. Instead, a mesmerising and almost understated display of what 5 x 5 can add up to in a confined area—one where the front rows come as close as most would dare to those swinging metal poles.

The troupe combines the strength and agility of circus and gymnastic skills (but above all the mutual trust) to come up with a stripped-down form of performance art. As their name hints at, it becomes a style of cutting edge choreography. Ockham's Razor is actually a principle of logic that says the simplest ideas are the best and it pretty well defines Tipping Point.

Tipping and tilting, balancing, seesaw-ing, climbing, spinning, ducking and diving—and that's just your own heart rate, never mind the feats performed right in front of your face.

It's an exhilarating, breathtakingly beautiful and occasionally unnerving entertainment—with a genuine sense of peril—that has already earned them a worldwide reputation. And it's all performed with a hauntingly evocative soundtrack that occasionally suggests ephemeral fairground music.

They are back in Lancaster for these four appearances after thrilling audiences in the city with a performance at the castle two years ago. This time their show is just one of several highlights from the Lancaster Arts autumn programme.

If you miss them here, bookmark the name and don't make the same mistake again.

Reviewer: David Upton

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