OVO, the latest Cirque du Soleil show to come to Birmingham, could just have easily been called WOW from the reactions of the audience at the city’s Utilita Arena.

With high-flying daredevil trapeze jumps and incredible acrobatics through to body-bending contortions and strong-arm balances, the circus skills on stage are not short of amazing.

The show, in typical Cirque style, has a loose narrative thread which brings the acts together and this time we go into the world of the insects.

Ovo is Portuguese for egg and the stage is initially set with a giant egg so that audience members sit with an air of anticipation – just what is going to emerge when the shell cracks?

What does appear is a stage where we are in the undergrowth with the insects, giant flowers tower above us and a backdrop of a wall creates an impression we could be in someone’s garden.

And then the insects take to the stage in all their colourful characteristics - but their usual world is about to be upended as a traveller appears carrying an egg on its back. What does this all signify? And when the traveller, a kind of fly, falls for the ladybird there are the bigger questions of should an outsider be welcomed or rejected and what impact does a stranger have on the insect society already there?

This may all sound a bit deep for a circus show but it is presented with a gentle humour as the insects battle with pretend swords, swoon in romance and even bring a couple of audience members on stage as part of the clowning around – be warned if you are sitting in the front rows, it could be you!

OVO is written, directed and choreographed by renowned Brazilian choreographer and director Deborah Colker and she brings the influence of her home country to the show – particularly in the music. Fellow Brazilian Berna Ceppas has created a soundtrack influenced by salsa and bossa nova as well as sampling actual insect noises for an eclectic mix.

Gringo Cardia’s sets are truly magical while Liz Vandal’s costumes are colourful, imaginative and perfectly adapted for a show such as this. Most of the insects have a more grandiose costume in which it is easy to see the characteristics of that creature such as the spider with many legs or the crickets with full regalia, but then there is a stripped down version where these additions are put aside for them to perform their individual acts safely.

OVO premiered in Cirque’s home city of Montreal in 2009 initially as a big top production but was adapted for arenas in 2016 and it feels right at home in that form. All is played out against the wall backdrop which is used extensively for digital projection - as well as being a climbing frame on which the creatures can cling.

Colker has ensured the insect imagery is fundamental to the show so that each of the individual acts is clearly linked to the qualities of the creature concerned. So the contortionist is the spider, turning over herself, so that even when she only has two legs her constant bending gives the impression she has more. As she scuttles around the floor, bent over backwards on hands and feet, there is also a sense of unease, even menace.

So too the butterfly silks performer is initially seen struggling to release herself from a cocoon and then emerges, wings flowing to the ground as a sensuous and delicate creature, hanging mid air and yet strong enough to emerge fully formed into the world.

And the crickets, who provide the grand finale, are the acrobats who leap from the trampoline to the top of the wall with apparent ease, hurtling through space and landing with perfection each time.

When these acts are so impressive, too much of the two-hour performance is taken up with the story between the traveller and the ladybird which at times feels laboured and over-extended. There is a sense it is simply holding the stage while we await the next show-stopper.

Cirque’s strength is without doubt its circus performers and a little less of the clowning around and more of the wow factor would make this a top-notch show.

Four stars

Reviewed by Diane Parkes at Utilita Arena Birmingham on Thursday 25 April. Cirque continue to perform OVO at the venue until Sunday 28 April.