The Fourth Walsh

Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents CIRCUS ABYSSINIA: ETHIOPIAN DREAMS.

Mehari “Bibi” Tesfamariam and Binyam “Bichu” Shimellis grew up dreaming of joining the circus. Brothers Bibi and Bichu worked hard to become jugglers. They taught themselves at a young age and later studied abroad. After perfecting their craft, they returned to their Ethiopian home to co-create and produce Circus Abyssinia*: Ethiopian Dreams. Their vision is now a global touring show featuring a team of acrobats, an aerialist, a clown and of course jugglers. The feats are performed to music from Ethiopian artists.

The show starts out with the crew -literally- jumping through hoops to entertain. The hoops, varying in size, are stacked and doubled as the ensemble -seemingly- effortlessly glide, slide and toss themselves through a ring. Bichu, also serving as the director, keeps the pace quick as a performer dives through a hoop and runs to get back in line. This crew bookends the show by returning in the finale to creep up two vertical, parallel bars and performing synchronized jumps and flips all above ground.

A standout act is the silk aerialist. His precision is breathtakingly beautiful. His physicality in contorting his body with graceful and inconceivable movements is amazing. That he is doing it suspended several feet in the air with one hand holding onto a silk is astonishing. His command of his body is totally transfixing! In his second act, his floor work is also extraordinary as he twists and twirls as one hand holds him up!

In another act, a performer is amusing and bemusing. He defies gravity by balancing on a board -on a cylinder -on a platform. He defies logic by continuing to pile on to the stack with additional layers. He does a shimmy-like movement to stabilize his balance before going to the next level. It’s impressive yet a little cringe-worthy imagining him falling off this precarious tower. In the second half, he returns doing crazy teetering and tottering on a ladder.       

CIRCUS ABYSSINIA is fun! It’s a great outlet for tourists visiting Navy Pier this summer. It’s performed on Chicago Shakes air-conditioned main stage. The venue is more intimate than Shakes’ The Yard – which used to be an outdoor venue for other circus troupes. I do need to point out the photos and videos at ChicagoShakes.com don’t depict the show I saw on opening night. Some acts featured in the trailer were missing from the actual show. There weren’t any female or children performers onstage. And the jump rope act was an interactive schtick with only one performer and two audience members. It was more of a cute clown bit rather than an expression of athleticism like pictured here.

Still, Bibi and Bichu know how to engage an audience. The acts they’ve assembled are entertaining and include themselves. The brothers perform a mesmerizing juggling act. Their calm demeanor and steady rhythm contrast dramatically with the number of pins they are tossing around. It’s fun imagining them as kids dreaming big and now seeing them as men living their dream and traveling the world!

Chicago doesn’t need to run away to get their circus fix this summer. Just head down to Navy Pier!     

*Former name of Ethiopia

Running Time: Eighty minutes includes an intermission.

At Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier

Co-Created & produced by Mehari “Bibi” Tesfamariam

Co-Created & directed by Binyam “Bichu” Shimellis

Written by Cal McCrystal

Choreography by Kate Smyth

Performances are:

Wednesdays at 7pm

Thursdays at 2 PM

Fridays at 2 PM and 7 PM

Saturdays at 11 AM and 2 PM

Sundays at 2 PM and 5 PM

Thru August 3

For more information or tickets

Production photos by Circus Abyssinia

For more Chicago theatre information and reviews, please visit Theatre in Chicago