Beautiful, twisted and insanely talented 

By Lucas Alexander Rikstad-Vindenes (15 years old)

The conflict between man and his inner voice 

Circus Antero addresses the conflict between humans and our inner voice. We follow Frida, a retired circus performer who is held back by her fear of failure and her inner voice, the puppet Antero, who is obsessed with breaking her down and convincing her that she is not good enough. 

The play is set in Frida's "basement", a place where Frida dreams back to her time in the circus, and toy with the idea of ​​returning, but Antero appears to sabotage it. It becomes a life-and-death struggle for Frida and her circus dream. Will she be able to defeat Antero and get out of the basement?

What is Cirkus Antero trying to convey and how?

The play Antero tells us about the importance of following our dreams and not giving up, it does so in a sometimes a little creepy, but very unique way. Something I really like is how the play respects the children in the audience, there are many plays that underestimate children and thus give them something that is really too bad, but here they are taken seriously and get something that the creators have clearly spent a lot of time on.

Something I think more children and young people will love

When Frida Odden Brinkmann introduces you to Antero, it is impossible to feel anything other than pure admiration for what is being performed. Through Antero's bouncy movements, juggling and tricks on display, Brinkmann shows an enormous talent that contributes to creating a very good and complete piece. The performance has a humor and energy that will definitely appeal to both children and young people, personally I smiled from start to finish.

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The Overthinker's Circus

By Amalie Kaspersen Solbø (15 years old)

In the performance Circus Antero by Oddman Productions, we meet the main characters Frida, a circus performer who has given up on circus life, and her inner voice Antero, a potato-like doll that sits on Frida's back. 

They find themselves down in a basement with Frida's old circus equipment and during the performance they juggle with balls and knives, throw colorful rings and ride a unicycle. Doing all these old circus arts gives Frida hope for the future and the opportunity to take up her career.

At first, Antero is incredibly negative. He tells Frida that she's not good enough, and that her dreams of starting a circus again won't get her anywhere. Antero seems like he wants to keep her down and that her life won't get any better, which he shows by shoving her head in the toilet. But as Frida finds old equipment and tries it out, like when she juggled three glowing red balls, Antero slowly starts to warm up to the idea of ​​taking up the circus life after he sees how happy it makes Frida. 

At the end after Frida has become demotivated again and seems to have given up, he pushes her forward and tries his best to motivate her to continue by doing some circus tricks herself. This works and before they both leave the basement at the end of the show they put on a circus performance for the audience. At the beginning of the show, when he was so negative, I thought Antero was a good presentation of bad thoughts and just general overthinking. 

I also think that the fact that they were in the basement could have been a metaphor for not having a good time and that Antero was playing a bad guy considering he was sitting on Frida's back. Even with the negative undertones in the story, it was a fun performance that was presented in a fun, creative and engaging way. The only negative thing I can think of is that I wish they had made it a little clearer that Frida and Antero were the same person.

I really enjoyed this show! Even though it was aimed at younger children, it was fun to watch and made you think about what was happening instead of explaining everything straight away. This is a show I would recommend everyone to see.

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Unique way to convey the struggle against one's inner voice

Helle Daae-Qvale (15 years old)

Circus Antero – Oddman Productions, is about the characters Frida and Antero, Frida is an old circus performer, and Antero is her negative inner voice. The actress, Frida Odden Brinkmann, plays both Frida and Antero and she has a special costume around her legs and waist. If she turned around and bent down she became Antero, and if she stood normally she was Frida again. 

They find themselves in a basement, where Frida's old circus equipment is stored, and Brinkmann alternates between playing Frida and Antero as she looks through the suitcases of old equipment and reminisces about her days as a circus performer. Although Antero is against Frida's desire to start a circus life again, he becomes more convinced that she should take it up again during the performance, as he sees the joy she gets from it. He ends up encouraging her to juggle and do other circus tricks again, and ends up as the circus director in Frida's performance in the end.

The basement they are in could be a metaphor for the saying "being in the basement", which is what you say if someone is in a bad mood, but the basement can also be a somewhat hidden and secret place, where you isolate yourself from the world around you. Antero can also refer to a kind of "ugly on the back" because he drags Frida's mood and mindset down, and literally finds himself on her back. At the same time, he helps her follow her dreams, this dynamic and change is exciting to see.

There were a few minor errors during the performance, such as some juggling balls not being caught in the air, but I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. I thought this was a fun show, and even though it's made for a younger audience, it was easy to enjoy.

 I thought the sound and lighting were well-managed, and I was impressed by Brinkmann's skills as a circus artist. I thought the message and theme were conveyed clearly throughout the piece, and the different dynamics between the characters were interesting. What I was left with after the performance was a good feeling because Frida was finally allowed to do what she wanted, and Antero began to accept and support her dream.

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