A night out at the Theatre at Brighton Dome

Timber at Brighton Dome

Last night I went to the Brighton Dome to the opening night of Timber, an amazing show performed by Cirque Alfonse. It was great. Not just the show, but getting out, doing something different and seeing a show so unique. I love the theatre but like so many things, hadn't been since toddler was born so it was a wonderful and lively way to start the new year.

A friend was babysitting which I was surprising nervous about as no-one has put ‘Toddles’ to bed, other than his daddy, since he was tiny. Family or friends look after him from time to time and he’s really good at falling asleep by himself but I was still nervous about everything! I guess that’s normal and of course, everything was absolutely fine in the end. He went to bed right on schedule so I could relax & enjoy the show.

Performed in the main concert hall, it was great to see a full house and a diverse audience, including a lot of older children. Cirque Alfonse consists of a family of performers from Quebec including a 66 year old grandfather and two year old Arthur, who's a real cutie! Timber is an unique mix of traditional folk music & singing, knife throwing, axe juggling, saw jumping, acrobats galore with a good dose of comedy thrown in. Plus a lot of timber!

Performing at Brighton Dome

I was surprised by the traditional music. I really enjoyed this and the set did an amazing job at creating a typical scene of lumberjacks in the forest, sitting around the stove, preparing food whilst performing acrobats. The acrobatics alone were amazing. The juggling of several axes and the series of complicated flips performed over a floating beam of timber as well as the men jumping through looped saws had my eyes transfixed! At the same time, I wanted to look away thinking they were going to drop an axe! If you’re a daredevil you’d probably love sitting in the front row! 

They were absolutely wonderful though, extremely precise and definitely showed the extent of their precision and strength even balancing one another on their heads! They also genuinely looked like they were having fun. I want to join them! And any ‘accidents’ were forgiven by comedy which there was plenty of. When the grandad was suspended up into the air I was in fits of giggles! Oh, I laughed a lot. 

If you want to catch this show it’s on tonight and tomorrow at Brighton Dome :) 

All words and opinions are my own