A magic clown about

The heart sinks at the start when Jerome Thomas makes his entrance. Oh God, you think, he looks like a clown. And there's only one thing worse than a circus clown, and that's a French circus clown.

So how is it that, 90 minutes later, you leave Monsieur Thomas's beguiling wooden big top feeling as light as the feather he dances with by way of an overture? He's a master juggler, certainly, but you need more than blinding ball control to keep the crowd in the palm of your hand for such a length of time.

What it comes down to is a question of charm - and that Thomas has in spades. With a killer mix of lugubrious shrugs and impish grins, the quintessentially French Monsieur Thomas, with a little help from his Circus Boy sidekick and a brace of musicians, takes on the challenge of playing every circus turn under the sun and wins hands down.

From coquettish lion tamer (his beasts are balloons) to posing strongman, horseback acrobat to master of illusion, Thomas combines uncanny skills with the priceless ability to evoke the feeling of another time and place.

At the end, it takes you by surprise to stumble back into the Barbican's modern concrete jungle when a French

provincial town square, somewhere in the 1950s, feels much nearer the mark.

Until Aug 15, Sculpture Court, Barbican, Silk Street EC2, Wed to Sat 7.30pm, Sun 3pm, £15. Tel: 0845 120

7550. www.barbican.org.uk Tube: Barbican/Moorgate

Compagnie Jerome Thomas: Cirque Lili