Dog. Their short 2004 duet Pave Up Paradise will be part of the 2006 touring programme of Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Company.

At 45 minutes. the duo's Fringe debut The Drowner is a further step towards bigger things. The seal people. a mythology familiar in Scandinavian. Inuit and Orcadian cultures. inspired this new dance- theatre piece. Duke and Meseguer have reconceived their source material into the tale of what happens when an indecisive man finds an unconscious woman on the beach. The results. Duke claims. are epic. everyday and funny all atonce.

Meseguer. 27. is short. nimble and Mediterranean-looking. Duke. 30. is tall and trained as an actor. The company's canine

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moniker is meant to convey the mongrel mix of genres they practice. Lost Dog wants to reach a non-dance audience. and to this end The Drowner couples movement possessing an earthy. emotional energy with unpretentious spoken text. ‘We try to find the words that are us. that we'd actually say.‘ says Duke. Live music by guitarist Jim de Zoete provides an extra touch of accessibility.

(Donald Hutera)

I Roman Eagle Lodge. 226 7207, 7—79Aug. 71.50am, {‘6 (£4.50). Previews 5&6 Aug, £3.

AURORA NOVA Fringe venue leads the way

The odds are good that in 2005 Aurora Nova will retain its status as the most consistently high quality Fringe venue.

Mixed media circus with multiple personalities

with a mostly amazing roster of dance. theatre and cross-discrplinary work from around the globe. In Austrian choreographer Helene Weinzierl's prize-winning Tropea, Couch Potatoes Paradise. a brace of bored. elderly channel-surfers dictates the movements of four dancers cast as an ever- changing gallery of televised characters. Sans. by France's Compagnie Martine Pisani. observes three men on a bare stage. minus music or props. playing through a range of commonplace yet peCUIiarly indiVIdual motion.

Other highlights include butoh from Brazil. Beckettian American clowning and a pair of phy8ical|y precise. surreal and gender-diwded Non/vegian comedies.

Twenty years ago, five college friends in Cardiff formed a circus company. ‘We thought it would be easy,’ recalls Ali Williams. ‘We also wanted to avoid getting grown-up jobs.’ Running a circus is no piece of cake, as she and her colleagues rapidly learnt. But the company, the punningly-titled NoFit State Circus, is still around and growing by leaps and bounds. NoFit last played Edinburgh in 1994. Now it’s back in a futuristic silver tent with an intoxicating, tumultuous large-scale show called ImMorta/2.

Ditching traditional circus trappings of animals and clowns, this promenade production climbs towards headier theatrical realms. Decked out in retro-style clothing, a teeming cast of 21 portrays a motley society. Although there’s no real narrative, these fictional beings seem always to be careening in and out of fleeting yet vivid public encounters. Surrendering to the deceptively shambolic, quicksilver atmosphere is easy. Featuring multiple platforms and flexible rigging, the space is continually being reconfigured through clever and subtle manipulations of mesh screens or white sheets that drop to reveal a new scene or setting. The effect is not a little disorienting - like being plunged into a living novel and occasionally losing the plot. But the extremely engaging, skillful performers always pull

you back in.

Although it’s certainly family-friendly, lmMortaI2 possesses an underlying sense of sophistication that will appeal to adults. ‘Children come as accessories,’ Williams explains. She uses words like ‘energy and spirit, humanity and joy’ to describe the show. ‘There's a feeling of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.’ And what is NoFit’s artistic philosophy? ‘Producing mixed-media circus.’ She cites music, dance, theatre and audio-visual technology as the disciplines from which the company draws, adding: ‘I think we’re creating the most exciting circus in the UK in the last ten to 20 years.’ (Donald Hutera) I The Big Top. 0870 726777]. 7—29 Aug, times vary. f‘12 (5‘8).

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