The Butler by Loons Circus Theatre Company at Pleasance

The Butler , written by Joe Bennett, and performed by Loons Circus Theatre Company, is at the Pleasance Theatre, in north London, from 7 to 31 July 2010.

The Loons Circus Theatre Company is a physical circus theatre company that uses the creative and performance skills of singers, musicians, actors, aerialists and acrobats, integrating them into a new style of theatre performance.

Directed by Mike Friend.

The butler presides over a dinner party. He stands apart from the action having seen and heard it all before. In contrast to his gloom, the dinner party guests are all exuberance. Brittle as biscuits, they wind every social convention up to the pitch of parody and beyond. They talk in sound-bites and snippets, revealing their superficial preoccupations. Every trivial event - the taking off of hats and coats, the saying of grace, the polite chit-chat, the serving of hors d'oeuvres - develops at an astonishing pace, hurtling into another realm of outrageous and grotesque circus antics. (Described by the critics as 'Cirque du Soleil for grown-ups' and 'Pinter on stilts', The Butler is a dinner party like no other - madder than the Mad Hatter's tea party with some arresting acrobatic displays thrown in for good measure.)