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Crockery sets, 9 jugglers, 80 apples… the end product? a veritable mad hatters tea party of juggling. Whilst juggling is not my particular ‘cup of tea’, however, Gandini Juggling are truly expert in their art and have put together an inventive, mesmerising and hilarious mix of circus, dance and theatre. I found myself switching focus from the multitude of apples flying around in the air and the funny expressions pulled by the performers and at times the elegance of their dance movements. It was, however, often difficult to follow everything as so much was going on at once.

I think that children would love this show, but most of the audience seemed to be in their twenties, suggesting that maybe older audiences weren’t interested in giving this one a try. Since I am one of those older ones, I can affirm that it was indeed enjoyable. Whilst I believe that there is only so much that a juggling act can do, ‘Smashed’ were on the top of their game, and provided us with lots of laughs. My only criticism would be that there weren’t any other circus-like acts included in the show.

The Udderbelly Festival returns to London’s Southbank each year, and has many other acts to see, and I highly recommend taking a look at their website to see whats available.