Four chairs, four performers – two male, two female. A rope, a tying-up game – which turns into a powerful corde lisse routine by Lauren Hurley (who was first seen seen and admired by Total Theatre in previous show What Will Have Been).

The frenetic soundtrack breaks into a cheesy Cha Cha and all four throw and catch and swing and tumble, this leading to a painfully beautiful trapeze act to a spooky version of the Sonny & Cher hit Bang Bang – as always with Circa shows, musical choices are spot-on – that uses air and ground inventively. Later, a great straps act to the Nouvelle Vague cover of The Killing Time (good to see a woman using this equipment, which is often seen as the territory for the beefiest of the male acrobats); a breathtaking hand-balancing sequence by one of the men, again really using the floor as well as the air; and a solo trapeze act by the other man, which very cleverly integrates Makaton (or similar) signing into the routine. If there were programme notes I could name the other three performers for you, but sadly not! It goes without saying, but will be said anyway, that all of the four are equally magnificent in their skills.

But what I enjoy most in this show is the complicity and playfulness between the performers. The acrobatic sequences that break up the specialty acts are no mere fillers – they are truly lovely ensemble pieces in which the four flirt and tease and tumble like puppies, capturing all the joys and pleasures of love and friendship without a word being spoken. As always with Circa, gender stereotypes are challenged, and the women are often bases, particularly Hurley, and the men often perform tenderly together. The facial expressions, and little glances and nudges between the four members of the team, are gorgeous – I love them all!

I will confess to some confusion about this show. I thought at first that it was a slightly rejigged version of Close Up (which played the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015, and featured a mix of live and screen action), but no – Closer is a new show, although retaining a few scenes from the now-aborted Close Up. The two scenes I remember from last year – which have now been remodelled and fit better into the dramaturgy of this show – are both involving the chairs. These chairs have become the silent stars of Closer…

One of the retained scenes is an audience participation number, in which eight chairs are lined up and the four performers each go out into the audience to find a partner to place in a chair and waltz around and with. It could be a cringy moment, but they pull it off.

They have also kept the breathtaking chair-and-human-body tower scene, which is now the finale. A suitably jaw-dropping ending to what is a lovely, lyrical and highly entertaining circus show. At the more mainstream end of the Circa spectrum – but that’s OK, there’s room for it all!