We were lucky enough to see the Chinese State Circus perform at Milton Keynes Theatre this week.

The skill of the performers in this show is amazing. The show is however quite short. The first half is 45 minutes and the second half is 40 minutes.

The first half of the show is based around ancient China and replicates a number of the skills that would have been performed for the Chinese emperors hundreds of years ago. This included such things as plate spinning and contortionism.The colours and detail on the costumes was outstanding. It was all narrated by "the monkey King". This was one of the disppointing parts of the show as the performer mimed to a voice over very badly whilst doing various jumps and somersaults. I would have just been happy with the voice over explaining the acts without the need for poor miming.

The second half is more up to date with tricks on bicycles and an amazing trapeze style performance using silk ribbons. The costumes are less memorable in the second half. The finale however is a real let down and I think it would be better if it wasn't in the show. The finale is a tribute to the Olympics and consists of one of the performers miming very badly to a tacky song while a gymnast carries out one of the disciplines, eg rings, beam etc.

The quality of the gymnastics is not as high as shown by the Chinese team at the olympics and it all just felt tacky and cheesy especially when someone came in with a replica of the Olympic torch.

It did have a "Disney" feel to it but we spent the whole of the fisrt half and much of the second going "Wow" and"Oh my God - how did they do that".

If you get the chance do go and see it ans you won't be disappointed - until the finale maybe!