Archaos, Queen Elizabeth Stadium March 9 HERE'S a sneaky way to infiltrate this circus: just disguise yourself as a fat, bearded cross-dresser who does sick things with plastic dolls. Wait. Archaos already has one of those, so go for bust and buy a ticket - providing there are still any left for this crazy, anarchic, brilliant show from France. This is the circus of your dreams - or nightmares if you happen to have a problem with lunatics tearing around with chain-saws, daredevils on motorbikes or aerialists who perform heart-stopping stunts without a safety net. Immediacy takes on a whole new meaning if you happen to be sitting near the front when Salvador Bugalovales, looking like a miniature version of Spiderman, swings and tosses himself on the rope high above your head. One miscalculation and - omigod, it doesn't bear thinking about. Not that you'll have time for considered thought in this action-packed super-spectacular which starts off on a deceptively laid-back note, then hits you like a Signal 10 typhoon. An entertainment which provides all the excitement and romance of the big top minus the hackneyed conventions: that was the original idea and joint artistic directors Pierrot Bidon and Guy Carrera have realised it in a way that makes Archaos unique: dazzling displays of artistry, combined with a thoroughly contemporary flavour and much ribald humour. Some of the world's top circus talent, including acrobats, jugglers, tightrope artists and bicyclists can be found in this show - also more than a few former street entertainers and even an ex-hairdresser and dock worker. It's an awesome mix and it works fantastically. Just one tip for front-row patrons: bring along a plastic mac as protection against the chain-saw boys. Not content with trying to slice each other in half, they stoop to - no, better not mention it. The censors might swoop.
