The Spiegeltent is back in Hobart with its latest production La Ronde delivering what creative producer Rowan Smith calls “the most fun show we’ve ever made”.
Opening night at Salamanca on Wednesday was called by the international cast their favourite opening performance ever.
Audiences told Smith the circus-cabaret fusion was the best show they had seen in its nine-year Hobart history.
“Everyone was coming up to me at interval and at the end telling me it was their favourite show they’d ever seen in the Spiegeltent,” Smith told Pulse.
“That’s always a pretty good start to a season.”
The show features performers from countries including Australia, Ukraine, Colombia, Spain and Sweden.
“I’ve never produced a show like it, where we’ve had, I think, 35 five-star reviews from around the country,” Smith said.
“There was only one review that came in with maybe four and a half stars – and then they came back and revised it to a five.”
The production has toured Adelaide, Auckland and Sydney before landing in Hobart, where it runs until May 10, with around 40 shows scheduled.
Most of the cast had never visited Tasmania before arriving a week early to explore the state.
“The concept for this show was really get the seven best people in the world at what they do and put them in a show together,” Smith said.
Smith, originally from Edinburgh but now Melbourne-based, said Hobart audiences were particularly engaged with the material.
“They get it when something’s good,” he said. “The audience is really on board from the start.”
The show combines aerial acts, comedy and live music in what Smith describes as “an incredibly joyous experience” that leaves audiences “feeling on top of the world”.
The Spiegeltent has been a fixture on Hobart’s cultural calendar since 2014, hosting acts including Hannah Gadsby, Paul Capsis and Katie Noonan.
Tickets remain available for most performances, with Saturday shows filling fastest.
