The circus revolution: Cantina, the sultry Aussie circus for adults

Only Cantina, the world renowned collective hailing from Down Under and in town for a five-month run as part of the South Bank’s London Wonderground Festival of circus and cabaret, is far more than just big-top performers of dazzling daring and death-defying expertise. 

Featuring the finest circus artists from Circa, La Clique, Acrobat, and Circus Oz and fusing music, magic and displays of acrobatics and dance, Cantina’s take on circus and cabaret is a beguiling, challenging delight where ‘the line between passion and pain is never quite clear’. 

“It’s dark, sultry, grown up and above all, showcases some amazing feats of physical and acrobatic skill,” says Ed Bartlam, co-director of Underbelly, the festival organisers.  

“Cantina was specifically created to be performed in a Spiegeltent, and that is exactly where they will call home for the summer.“

While the Wonderground sits on the South Bank adjacent to the Udderbelly’s big purple, upturned cow, it was not about to be upstaged by its bovine companion, its own towering red-and- white-spiralled tent a calling card for the London summer. 

“We wanted to create a new festival that focused on cabaret, circus and sideshow that centred around a beautiful 1930s Spiegeltent,” Bartlam says of the impetus that led him and co-director Charlie Wood to curate this particular must-see event.