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The big tents on The Meadows have some wonderful circus acts to entertain you but Underbelly’s Circus Hub draws to a close tomorrow Monday, 22 August .

In its second year at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Circus Hub has attracted an audience of over 27,000.

So this is your last chance to catch the ten amazing shows that have been performing at the Circus Hub, including two world premieres and one European premiere. Over the last 16 days, Edinburgh’s Meadows has been the centre of circus with world class shows from across the globe.

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With a wide mix of different shows – the programme has something for everyone. No matter their age or taste.

Highlights from this year’s Circus Hub programme included the world premiere of the brand new from Irish chanteuse Camille O’Sullivan which has been wowing sold-out audiences in the Lafayette tent. Australian sensations Briefs Factory brought the world premiere of Sweat Shop to the Hubwhile The Raunch is a whip-cracking show starring Empress Stah. Every day the Spiegeltent has been transformed into a bedroom for the snuggle-tastic Bedtime Stories by the UK’s Upswing; and Throwback by Silver Lining and Jackson’s Lane sees the rising stars of UK circus create a love letter to nostalgia.

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In the smaller of the two tents, The Beauty, two family favourites from last year returned to the Circus Hub to be sell-out successes once again – The Hogwallops and Trash Test Dummies. The European premiere of Perhaps Hopefrom the brilliant Company Here and Now, brought a highly original circus show to the Hub exploring climate change while Imbalance, teamed up Joli Vyann with choreographer Jonathan Lunn to explore our obsessive dependence on technology and how that affects our relationships. Closing each evening there’s Elixir, where three handsome scientists entertain audiences with their gutsy attitude, unique apparatus and amazing tricks.

Alongside the programme of shows there is the ever popular Family Circus Workshops which is run by Edinburgh’s centre for circus arts Full Cirqle. These workshops give parents and kids aged eight and up the opportunity to try and develop a variety of circus skills including juggling, hula hoop, acrobatics and aerial.

As part of this summer’s programme, the Circus Hub also hosted the community project The Summer Collective, which saw the Hub working alongside young people from Scotland’s Impact Arts ‘Creative Pathways’ programme. The Hub invited the creative pathways students from all over Scotland, some of whom had never been to Edinburgh, to the Underbelly Circus Hub to experience the festival.

The young people took part in a day of seminars presented by Underbelly staff and Circus Hub companies looking at the different roles within a festival and how roles like these could be accessible them. The day was followed by going to see Throwback by Silver Linings and Jacksons Lane.

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.