If you hear “circus”, what do you imagine? Acts of seemingly impossible skill performed with perfect poise? A troupe of confident, muscular men, who could be models, holding aloft an unfeasibly glamorous woman?

Well, if any of that’s the case, two new shows at this year’s Fringe might just challenge those assumptions, using circus skills in exciting creative ways to tell stories.

Ellie Dubois is a performance-maker and director of contemporary circus. No Show—which will play at the Old Lab at Summerhall—is a deconstruction of circus tropes. It opens with a typically superhuman-seeming, showgirl-inspired circus routine by its all-female ensemble – then unpacks this glossy fantasy, revealing the truth about the pain, vulnerability and dedication behind the stereotypes…

Read the full article at Fest