Loca Vida

Loca Vida opens at The Spiegeltent in Civic Park on 4 September, and it's the newest creation from Strut & Fret, the live-entertainment company behind Blanc de Blanc Encore, La Ronde and The Party. It's a world-class circus and artistry show with an international cast, and it runs through to 4 October.

Strut & Fret describe it as a feverish dose of showbiz spectacle: wild, seductive and unapologetically glamorous, with big brass, sky-high kicks and show-stopping numbers choreographed by some of the best in the international circus business. The cast brings together performers from Australia, Cuba, Spain and the USA, including stars of Broadway, the West End, Las Vegas, Paris and Australia's biggest stages who have shared a bill with Kylie Minogue, Christina Aguilera and Dita Von Teese. Among them are Guinness World Record-holding acrobats and graduates of Cuba's National Circus School.

The setting is The Spiegeltent itself, a mirrored, timber-framed pavilion of Belgian origin that's become a local spring institution in Civic Park. Inside, audiences sit around a stage no larger than three metres wide, so you're right on top of the action. The show is a major part of the New Annual festival, whose director Tory Loudon frames the season as taking art out of conventional venues and into the spaces locals move through every day.

Tickets start from A$54 per person, and the show runs from 4 September to 4 October at The Spiegeltent, Civic Park, King St, Newcastle.