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A photo of a woman on a stage surrounded by a selection of random household items. She appear to be flinging a laundry drying rack around.

No Magic // My!Laika (FR) + Special Guests

Start the week with surreal sensation My!Laika and Bristol-based artists Charles Brockbank and Gráinne Young-Monaghan, in a brilliant and bizarre evening of three short circus works exploring the business of spectatorship. This experience is for you if you like absurd comedy or shows that make you laugh, gasp and peek out from between your fingers… or if you’d like to see what happens when a trio of wild circus punks unleash their prowess on the contents of your kitchen.

MY!LAIKA (FR)
Overvaluing the razzle-dazzle to the extreme, No Magic sees three My!Laika acrobats approach extraordinary feats with an exaggerated nonchalance and a gruesome adoration for gastronomical special effects. A parody so committed it becomes serious, their meaningless stunts and meticulous live sound effects are empty of the will to surprise – without losing their convulsive impact on you, attendant witnesses of this immense stupidity!

A welcome and familiar sight at European arts festivals, My!Laika have been bringing their award-winning, seriously absurd and playfully skilful circus performances with an anti-establishment flavour to audiences of all ages in streets and circus tents since 2009. We are really excited to finally welcome them to Bristol with No Magic, a show which turns circus and showmanship inside out, in a delightfully confusing and satisfying spectacle.

“stunning contortion skills only provide the backdrop for the main star of the show: absurdity”
Around About Circus

A photo of a performer screaming, another performer is seen in the background looking suprised.

A photo of a perfomer tapping on phone in an exagerrated way whilst smoking a cigarette. There is a big pile of cardboard boxes taped together beside her.

A photo of three performers. One performer is up a ladder pouring blue mouthwash through a funnel held by another performer . The mouthwash is dripping onto the final performer who is doing a no handed headstand with her legs in a split position.

GRÁINNE YOUNG-MONAGHAN (UK)
Bringing her special brand of cheap party tricks, chic danger and warm-hearted mayhem to this evening with her show ‘Duty Free’, Gráinne is a clown and multidisciplinary performer specialising in underwhelming chaos. Her training background is in both visual art and circus. She creates playful and experimental performances that are rooted in surreal rituals of the everyday and celebrations of the mundane. Accolades include taking a solo clown show to Edinburgh fringe, performing as part of bicycle toured street theatre show and dangling from an aerial shopping trolley. She co-runs thelostcabaret at the wardrobe theatre and is a regular on the UK festival and alt comedy circuit.

A photo of a performer standing on a stage surronunded by shuttlecocks. Behind her is a trolley with a duty free sign & a till on. The performer is standing at the edge of the stage & is shouting. The stage is bathed in a red light.

CHARLES BROCKBANK (UK)
Charles is a juggler and clown based in Bristol. His work explores themes of public space using spectacular circus and surreal comedy, indoors and outdoors. For this evening of fun he will bring some of the outside in and turn the watchers into the watched. Join him on this journey of virtual identity where he asks the question. Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?

A photo of a man holding a CCTV camera on a pole amongst audience memebres in a bar.

ACCESS: This performance is Non-Verbal

Event Info:

This event was part of Circus City 2025 and took place on Monday 13th October

Venue: The Loco Klub

Ticket Price: £11, £14, £18, £26

Image Credits: Featured image – Marie Munkner, Photographs from Circus City by Anna Barclay.

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