Outstanding Talent: Ten Thousand Hours Review | Katie Veitch

Image credit: Darcy Grant

‍ ★★★★

Ten Thousand Hours by GOM Circus delivers exactly what people look for from an acrobatic show at the Edinburgh Fringe: outstanding talent, high tension, tasteful style. It’s a very reliably fun hour that you can rest easy on between some shows that you might be taking a risk on.

‍The team of men and women in grey athleticwear and more mullets than you usually expect on one stage stand before an LED backdrop displaying a simple ‘10000’. The clock counts down and the magic begins. Before long, three people are stacked atop one another, and bodies are flying through the air without so much as a crash mat or a bounce board in sight. The entire act is backed by a brilliant drummer who keeps the pace up and adds a really satisfying rhythm to the intricate choreography.

‍A friend whom I attended with described the performers as “beautiful, freaky ragdolls,” and honestly, I couldn’t say it better myself. Undeniable athletes with muscles that immediately establish their abilities, the performers pay just as much attention to their jaw-dropping stunts as they do their turns and footwork between each movement. The lines created by their own bodies and in their arrangement as a group will please every dancer in the audience: those toes stay pointed the entire time.

‍A fair few moments left the audience fighting to cover their eyes, ready to witness an injury, just as every great circus show should. They don’t shy away from breaking the fourth wall and talking onstage, making you feel like you are truly seeing these artists’ play, test their boundaries and get creative with their abilities. A powerful drum solo mid-show gives the audience more talent to marvel at while the performers’ very rightfully catch their breath: pretty much the only moment in which they get to, it would seem.

Ten Thousand Hours is a high intensity, hugely impressive and well-paced show. It has done very well at the Fringe for years now, and this is its last year in our capital city, so if you want to catch it, now’s your chance! The group will be returning next year, however, with an entirely new show, and I, for one, will be relying on them for another brilliant hour of my Fringe season.

Ten Thousand Hours will be performed at Assembly Hall until 30 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.

‍ ‍By Katie Veitch