For the past thirteen years, the small, family and European troupe Brunette Bros has transported its eccentric, topsy-turvy, ramshackle fairground across the continent, through Denmark, Austria, Slovenia, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and even the United States. Their circus aesthetics are both outdated and somewhat sinister, formed of recycled materials, cobbled-together parts and skewed signs, with clowns and puppets performing clumsy stunts and making mistakes as they proudly proclaim themselves to be the “greatest and second smallest circus in the world”.

Entrusting their lives to these hare-brained clowns, the seventy spectators fall about laughing, taken in by the frenzied rhythm of this profoundly unsettling circus life. Lies and malice thrive at every turn in this world doomed to collapse, despite the Brunette Bros’ claim that “La vida do circo está muito bonito!” There are plenty of secrets lurking behind the colourful caravan doors…

Reminiscent of the trashy world of Circo Ripopolo or the Tiger Lillies, this oddball European troupe (Italy, Denmark, Spain) throw themselves whole-heartedly into all of the tricks of comedy and the absurd. Maria Sola, Manu Fiandri, Lisa Skjoth Madsen and Luca Tapino are as refined as they are wild, as crazy as they are exhilarating, and have built a dazzling world of fairground entertainment in an intentional and organised chaos that blends music, street theatre and puppet theatre.