Lyn Gardner : Pick of Edinburgh festival
As the world’s largest arts festival draws to a close and Edinburgh tidies up and returns to normal, the most memorable fringe shocker was Acrobat, an astonishing Aussie troupe that defied gravity and good taste with a show that was the antidote to all those soft-focus circuses such as Cirque de Soleil.
Their little pink fuschia haircuts may make them look like startled bantam chicks, but there is nothing soft and comfortable about these highly skilled acrobats who fly through the air with nipples erect and make aggressive love while hanging by one foot from a trapeze.
The parade of bare buttocks and men in frocks is often more Carry On than anything else, and the company makes much sly use of comedy.
But there is no doubting the sense of sexual menace in a piece in which physical daring becomes a metaphor for living life to the very edge – in every sense.
On a stage on which a television set constantly flickers and a drummer and an electric guitarist pump up the volume, the troupe constantly raises the stakes like seasoned poker players, daring each other on to greater and more dangerous feats.