Review from: Circusstad Festival, Schouwburgplein – Opticum, Rotterdam; 30th April 2025, 17.45
I’m guessing that not all parents will happily take their young offspring to witness sword swallowing and contortion, but such is the showmanship of Frodo and his two companions that the audience sit entranced through the half-hour show.
To dispel any doubt about what they’re here to witness, Captain Frodo opens the show by graphically demonstrating the difference between circus – he balances a teaspoon on his face – and freakshow – he inserts the handle of the spoon all the way into his head via a nostril.
A representation of the historic Siamese Twins act follows where, rather than being born conjoined, Melinda Meijs and Lisa Chudalla are joined at the legs by the force of Velcro. Despite this impediment, the duo successfully completes a rope act at height. It is left to Frodo, who accompanies the act on the musical saw, to literally saw them apart at the end.
Frodo moves to more authentic freakery in his renowned tennis racquet routine, squeezing his entire body through not one but two of the stringless heads – the latter two inches smaller in size than the first. In tight white shorts and t-shirt and a sweatband that won’t stay on, the hyper flexible Frodo battles with his microphone, stand, cable and a stool as he loses his balance mid-way through the act in a brilliant and at times gruesome display of buffoonery. He surely is the master in the way of the showman.
Chudalla brings a full-size Cyr wheel onto the tiny stage and spins around impressively without squishing any toes of the onlookers. A sword-swallowing duet with Frodo follows with, unsurprisingly, a clear explanation to the children present on why it’s inadvisable they try this later at home.
To conclude the show, Meijs hangs at height by the hair on her head alone.
It’s a family show that is worth a brave promoter bringing to the UK if only for the fury that the UK media would conjure up in response!
