Cirque Inextremiste at Letní Letná

2014 - Extrêmités

The performance with planks and gas bombs was mainly about physical balance, but also about the balance of forces and interdependence. The French equilibrist balancers lit up the 2014 Summer Letná with amazingly brisk humour.

From a review on iDNES (25 August 2014, Tomáš Št'astka):
"The French trio arrived at the Letná festival of new circus with an unusual show, the hallmark of which is orange gas bombs, and especially the person of one of the three acrobats. Cirque Inextremiste has a wheelchair user among them.

...These Frenchmen have brought a show that is highly incorrect and sarcastic. No one is helping the disabled acrobat. On the contrary, he is the target of all sorts of jokes, jokes and black humour. The other two deny him a chair, take away his pheasant and viciously place both at the opposite end of the stage. Moreover, the wheelchair user's futile attempts to achieve everything are laughed at derisively.

...However, the handicapped man reciprocates in equal measure and sabotages their acrobatics in every possible way. Indeed, when they are not bullying, both acrobats put on an amazing show; as they teeter on the edge of taste and ethics, they do so equally on the set with the help of empty bombs and a few planks. Trying to keep their balance on a wobbly set of wood and bottles, several meter flips and other stunts keep the audience in incredible suspense even in the absence of any accompanying music and with minimal lighting effects."

Full review in czech here.

2018 - Extension

A show that framed a continuation of the previous production, Extrêmités, with the addition of a mini excavator to the planks and gas bombs. The incredible work with balance, weights and counterweights, scales and swings, was breathtaking. Extension's performance combined technical skill, stagecraft and disability reflection with just the right amount of humour.

From a review on iDNES (Aug. 23, 2018, Tomas Stastka):
"Right where the former Extremités production left off, the novelty that the French brought to us this year begins. For in a piece called Extension comes the wheelchair racer's revenge. The pair first gloat as they remove his wheelchair to start the bullying again, but the disabled acrobat manages to free himself, disappears backstage and arrives on stage in a small digger. The roles are suddenly reversed and suddenly it's the two upstarts who are pulling the short end of the stick.

...Cirque Inextremiste have included their trademark balancing on a set of planks and empty gas bombs in the novelty. Their seemingly foolhardy equivalence on the wobbly constructions makes the viewer feel sick, never mind that he has seen it once before."

Full review in czech here.