By Joy McKay.
iD RELOADED is the latest show from Cirque Éloize, the award-winning Canadian circus troupe, which I had the pleasure of seeing last night (23 September 2025).
iD RELOADED is an adapted touring version of the company’s famous West End show iD which has had over 1000 performances in London alone.
This new show, like the original, combines street dance, circus skills and extreme sports in the telling of a Westside Story style tale of fighting factions and forbidden love within a gritty urban environment.
The gangs battle each other for the duration of the night through their displays of pole, breakdancing, aerial skills, acro, stunt biking, contortion, juggling and even skipping and trampolining. It also includes the Cyr wheel, a piece of popular modern circus apparatus invented by Daniel Cyr, co-founder of Cirque Éloize. A skill which always appears incomprehensible as the performers spin around, like a human gyroscope.
I really enjoyed watching the aerial hoop and silks too, trying those skills is definitely on my ‘to do’ list. It looked so elegant, but strong and must be exhilarating to experience.
It was fun to hear the audience gasp and applaud in awe at the feats of the performers, bringing this combination of skills into the theatre perhaps offering this audience something different to what they are used to seeing. Many of the audience members were children and they were particularly excited by the show.
The running time was very short; just 75 minutes with no interval. But, for this young audience, on a school night, this was probably ideal.
Some of the show took place off the stage, in the stalls. And sitting in the circle meant there were periods where we could not see what the performers were doing at all, which was a shame. But from the noise of the audience below it seemed they were enjoying whatever was happening.
The short running time combined with the many different disciplines displayed did mean that each segment of the performance was quite short resulting, perhaps, in a limited amount of each skill being able to be explored on stage.
However, this show could be considered a showcase of the work of Cirque Éloize; an extended trailer almost. I’d definitely be interested in seeing a full length show.
Tickets for Cirque Éloize iD Reloaded (Tuesday 23 – Wednesday 24 September 2025) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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