‘Exit’ is a playful and sophisticated combination of acrobatics, dance and slapstick ★★★★☆

How many times a day do you walk through a door without thinking about it? While such a practical object can seriously appeal to the imagination. It’s not for nothing that we borrow a lot of proverbs from it, such as showing someone the hole in the door, flattening someone’s door, being able to go through one door with someone or be as crazy as a door. During the beautiful show exit of the Dutch-Flemish club Circumstances, all those associations are mentioned, without the metaphorical meaning being given too much weight.

Five doors, four men, three walls, two floors and one infectious soundtrack. In this way choreographer and circus artist Piet Van Dycke makes a playful and refined combination of acrobatics, dance, slapstick and balancing act. As soon as the first door is in the setting of the lock, the gentlemen individually walk their apparently loose route. Sometimes they slam a door just in front of someone, then again they stop pontifically in the doorway to prevent the other person from entering. Gradually – see also the subtle costume changes – the collective realization arises that cooperation will (literally) take them further. The bar is constantly being raised (one floor). Walls become a seesaw, doors a launch pad, rabbets a handle and door frames a roll bar.

During this precarious and sometimes dangerous exercise in balance, the four circus acrobats (Christopher Mc Auley, Luuk Brantjes, Samuel Rhyner and Will Blenkin), specializing in bascule, partner acrobatics and balance board, also time for a wink to the audience. The work of the young Piet Van Dycke (26) excels through an organic mix of light-footedness and heaviness. He originally uses these scales in his growing oeuvre, which is now in great demand in the Netherlands and Belgium. With the new exit he also opens the door to the rest of Europe.