EIGHT YEARS APART: TWO NEW SHOWS & ONE VERY BIG COMEBACK
Some partnerships somehow have a habit of finding their way back onto the road.
After an eight-year hiatus, Area 51 and Zippo’s Circus reunited at London’s Hyde Park for the annual Winter Wonderland event, bringing their creative relationship back to one of London’s biggest festival attractions.
And once again, they weren’t interested in simply recreating past glories.
Area 51 director Matt Page was delighted to receive the invitation to return to the Cirque Berserk family, and the brief from Zippo’s was characteristically ambitious: create an entirely fresh new look and feel for a brand-new generation of the popular show.
The result was a dramatic evolution of the Cirque Berserk brand.
And then, just for good measure, they did it again…
THUNDERBOLT STRIKES BACK
The first new production of the reunited partnership was Thunderbolt, presented in central London from November 2024 into January 2025. The show ran for seven weeks and brought together the extraordinary physical skills of an international cast with the high-octane theatricality that Cirque Berserk has now become known for.
Area 51 once again became deeply involved in the creative process, helping to conceive, choreograph and direct the show while developing a totally new identity.
This reunion was more than just nostalgia and remembering the “good old days.” It was about taking everything that had worked before and then pushing it somewhere entirely new.
THEN CAME IGNITE!
By the following winter, the collaboration had evolved yet again.
For the 2026/26 Hyde Park Winter Wonderland season, Cirque Berserk returned with Ignite!
running from November 14, 2025 until January 1, 2026.
Winter Wonderland itself described it as an exclusive, adrenaline-fuelled production featuring daredevil performers from around the globe.
And – again – Area 51 was once again at the epicentre of the creative operation.
This time the brief was even more ambitious: completely rethink the costumes, scenery and visual world of the show and propel Cirque Berserk into a retro-futuristic cyberpunk universe.
WELCOME TO THE CYBERPUNK BIG TOP
Think William Gibson’s “Neuromancer.”
Think the dystopian technology and uneasy humanity of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?”
Then put it altogether inside a circus tent.
This was the creative territory Area 51 explored for the new-look Cirque Berserk.
The company’s costume and character designers developed an entirely new visual language, while a brand-new set was constructed by Area 51’s Tim Franklin, whose work was central to transforming the space into the show’s futuristic environment.
The production wasn’t simply given a cyberpunk makeover.
The entire experience was considered as one piece – costume, scenery, character, lighting, atmosphere and sound all working together.
Even the soundtrack had to be distinctive with tailored music helping to establish the show’s own sonic identity.
The result was a circus that looked though it had scaped from some beautifully dystopian future and somehow landed in Hyde Park for Christmas!
CIRCUS WITHOUT THE BRAKES
At its heart, Cirque Berserk remains about something very simple:
astonishing people.
The production brings together contemporary circus artistry and adrenaline-fuelled stunt action, with more than 30 international acrobats, aerialists and daredevil performers forming a cast from across the entire globe.
Performers were recruited from countries including Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Spain, Tanzania, Kenya, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Ireland, the UK and Ukraine, creating an extraordinary international melting pot of circus skills.
Among them was Brazilian acrobat and comedian Paulo Dos Dantos, whose remarkable career is a story of determination as much as performance.
Born with achondroplasia, Paulo is around 3ft 6in tall. As a teenager he discovered capoeira – the Afro-Brazilian fusion of martial arts, dance and acrobatics – and it helped him develop the confidence to pursue performance.
He eventually progressed into circus, mastering an astonishing range of skills and performing all over the world.
At Cirque Berserk he became part of an ensemble in which individuality is an asset and extraordinary physical ability is very much the order of the day.
THE GLOBE OF DEATH
And then there is the bit where things become seriously berserk…!
They went somewhere else entirely!
The legendary Globe of Death remains one of the production’s signature spectacles, with five motorcycle riders hurtling around inside of a metal sphere at seemingly impossible speeds.
The Brazilian Lucius Team brings the motorcycle mayhem, while elsewhere in the production, audiences encounter aerialists, acrobats, stunt performers, jugglers, pole artists, hoop divers, contortionists, dancers and comedians.
There is also fire: quite a lot of fire!
And when you have a show called Ignite that seems entirely appropriate!
FROM MOROCCO TO MONGOLIA & EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN
The international cast brought a remarkable range of specialist skills to Cirque Berserk.
Brahim, from Morocco, performed spectacular vertical pole work while the Timbuktu Tumblers added hoop diving and flaming limbo from Africa. Then the production featured talented artists from Mongolia contributed extraordinary contortion, foot artistry and hula-hoop skills.
British comedian Whimmie Walked added physical comedy while Jackie Louise presented aerial straps and others contributed aerial ballet and contemporary circus disciplines. And it’s this eclectic mixture that gave Cirque Berserk its distinctive character.
There wasn’t one single circus tradition on display – there were many. And all colliding at high speed!
BANG, BANG, BANG
One of the greatest strengths of the production was its pace.
There are long stretches where the audience is left wondering what happens next.
The show was consciously constructed as a tightly choreographed sequence of escalating spectacles, with one act feeding almost instantly in to another.
Aerial action.
Acrobatics.
Comedy.
Motorbikes.
Fire.
Dance.
Stunts.
Circus skills.
And then, of course, something entirely unexpected.
The audience barely had time to decide where to look before the next thing was happening somewhere else.
It was less a succession of circus acts than a continuous theatrical adrenaline rush.
A PARTNERSHIP THAT KNOWS HOW TO EVOLVE
The renewed partnership between Area 51 and Zippo’s is yet another example of something that has become vital to the Area 51 approach:
never stand still!
The first era of the collaboration produced a series of radically different Cirque Berserk worlds – from steampunk and dark fairy tales to Tiki and futuristic Mechanika.
The reunion has followed this same philosophy.
Thunderbolt brought the partnership back together and Ignite! pushed it on further.
And the creative process behind both demonstrates why long-standing creative relationships can become so valuable when both parties are prepared to keep experimenting.
Area 51 brings its expertise in creative direction, costume, décor, character creation, set design, choreography and production while Zippo’s adds decades of circus expertise and both have an international network of exceptional performers.
Together, they create something that sits somewhere between theatre, circus, stunt show and immersive spectacle.
BRITAIN’S BIGGEST CIRCUS GETS A FUTURISTIC REBOOT
Cirque Berserk describes itself as Britain’s biggest and boldest theatre-circus spectacular, combining contemporary cirque-style artistry with adrenaline-fuelled stunt action.
Its critical reaction has been equally emphatic, with strong reviews fvrom media that includes The Sun, Sunday Mirror, Daily Mail, The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, Time Out, Evening Standard, The Stage and others.
For Area 51 however, the most important review is what happens when the lights go down and the audience starts reacting.
The gasps.
The laughter.
The cheers.
The moments when thousands of people simultaneously realise they have absolutely no idea what us coming next!
That is the magic of Cirque Berserk.
And after eight years apart, Area 51 and Zippo’s proved that their partnership hadn’t lost its edge. If anything, it got sharper.
Because when two creative teams with a shared appetite for spectacle get back together, you don’t simply recreate the past: you reignite it.
