When Cirque du Soleil first came to Australia in 1999 with Saltimbanco, audiences hadn’t seen anything like it. The combination of extraordinary acrobatic and physical acts performed by an international cast to immersive live music, all wrapped up in a dazzling, highly polished spectacle, was worlds removed from any circus we had seen.

Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities. All photographs supplied

Founded in 1984 in Montreal by street performers Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix, Cirque du Soleil is now a cultural juggernaut, with five resident shows in Las Vegas and international tours constantly crossing the world. The company has been back to Australia many times since 1999 with productions including Alegría, Dralion, Kooza, Quidam, Varekai and Toruk – The First Flight.

They have all used a similar formula, building the show around a central theme with a matching design aesthetic, and have all been staged with sumptuous sophistication, but some productions have felt rather slick and soulless.

Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities is the company at its best. Not only is the show lavishly staged but it has humour too. What’s more, the impossibly skilled performers seem to radiate enjoyment while undertaking remarkable, daring feats.