David Bellan enjoys the spins and twists of three performers at the peak of their physical – and artistic – abilities

Bromance is the title of the debut show by a group of three physical performers whose company goes by the name of Barely Methodical. It has already won this year’s Total Theatre award for circus, and on Saturday evening it was easy to see why.

Starting with some recorded psycho-babble about the significance of handshakes, the three move from a simple clasping of hands to an extraordinary series of flips and leaps, spins and somersaults in the air, in which they, particularly the diminutive Beren D’Amico, are caught in near impossible positions just in time to save them from crashing to the ground and out of the show.

There are no props, except at one point a Cyr wheel – a big hoop within which Charlie Wheeller whirls and spins. But for the rest of the time their own bodies are their props, as they go through an amazing succession of high speed manoeuvres, with only split-second timing and the strength of powerful Louis Gift to save them from disaster.

The three of them are trained in completely different disciplines: Beren is a martial arts man who specialises in Tae-kwondo, and tricking, which is the demonstration side of this very macho discipline; Charlie Wheeler is a break-dancing performer and contortionist, while Louis’ speciality is parkour.

It must be an awesome sight to see his massive frame flying around the urban landscape, but the impressive thing is that when you watch the show, you can’t tell whose background is which. They have managed to integrate these arts into a new, acrobatic performance style; a seamless fitting together of disparate abilities There is a sub-text to this show. While they perform these impressive stunts, the three men are also exploring the nature of the relationship that binds them together. This, as I gathered when I talked to Louis, is a deep but complex friendship, and their camaraderie shines through from beginning to end, with intimate, almost private jokes slipped in along the way. Most of the time we find D’Amico and Gift bonded through their exertions, with Wheeller at times left in the cold, but certainly not excluded.

At one point there were gasps from the audience when the massive Gift drove his full weight onto Wheeler’s legs, while they were twisted into a doubled-up position. A lot of this is done with humour, which makes light of the difficulties. They are a likeable trio, and this is a terrific show, which they ended by becoming a human totem pole.