Cirque Éloize

Brilliant from the first beat — Cirque Éloize’s iD Reloaded at Milton Keynes Theatre is a fizzing, high-octane blend of street dance and jaw-dropping circus that never lets up.

The show feels familiar in format — each artist gets their moment to shine — but a strong urban New York thread, vivid video projections and a pulsing soundtrack keep everything knitted together into a coherent, thrilling whole. The piece is a compact, breathless 75-minute rush that packs an astonishing amount of invention into a short running time.

Standout moments are many: slick b-boying from Bryan “Slinky” Boyer, fearless trial-bike wizardry from Trevor Bodogh, and Alexia Medesan’s sinuous contortion and aerial work. JP Deltell’s juggling sequences are inventive throughout, but the show’s highlight — genuinely original and dangerously beautiful — is a building-site juggling tableau where performers carry panes of glass and use them as surfaces to bounce the balls off. It’s theatrical, precarious and utterly memorable. The choreography by Elon Höglund and the soundtrack by Jean-Phi Goncalves and Alex McMahon fuel the action with real attitude and heart.

Tightly directed by Jeannot Painchaud and presented with flair and technical polish, iD Reloaded is cult-classic Cirque Éloize — fresh, funny, occasionally breath-stopping and hugely entertaining.

Two nights only at Milton Keynes Theatre — final performance tonight, Saturday 11 October — go if you can.