Oz is not so wizard

If Cirque De Soleil is the Selfridges of circus, then Circus Oz is its car-boot sale. Homespun and down at heel, the Aussie pranksters are an intentionally raggle-taggle bunch of performers with a robust attitude to their craft and a rude, raucous approach to the audience.

They've never given an antipodean fig for gloss and glamour, and it's always been a breath of beery, cheery fresh air to see them go for it hammer and tongs. At least until now.

Circus Oz returned to the South Bank on Friday, and you had the dread sense that they'd lost their innocence. That may sound strange for a troupe who intentionally rude it up, but by innocence I mean performance passion rather than the amorous variety. In previous years they had a glorious, throw-back-your-head-and-laugh-yourpantsoff enthusiasm, like a group of partying roustabouts. This year that was missing, although it could be the jet lag. Let's hope so, because the thought of Circus Oz getting bored with itself is just too gloomy to contemplate.

Who else can mix the grotesque and the gorgeous with such aplomb? Who but Oz has a girlish juggler wearing a skin-tight denim jumpsuit, an Afro wig and a foxy smile? Who else has a double-jointed contortionist who squeezes himself through tennis rackets? And who has a strong woman with a flashing bikini and a come-andgetit wink? Not the sanitised Cirque de Soleil, nor the good, but achingly arty French troupes where the girls all do Manon des Sources impressions and the men look meek.

Chunks of the Circus Oz show still appeal, and if you're an Oz novice, they're worth seeing. The rolling wheel

is hypnotically done, the double trapeze has a fat-ballet elegance, and the tiny acrobat with a horse-head dress and saddle on her back is a weirdly wonderful throwback to what you think circus might have been 100 years ago. However, the clown sequence was unfunny, as was the mouse character, and the mad-woman routine way past its sell-by.

Worst is the loss of passion. The Aussie visitors need to rediscover it, or we'll soon be lamenting what they once were.

Until 21 August. Information: 08703 800 400.

Circus Oz