Performance
Circus City Presents: The Shedding by Elise Reine
16 Oct 2025
Regular hours
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 18:00
Cost of entry
Tickets: From £10 - £25 + booking fee
Address
- 16 Narrow Quay
- Bristol, BS1 4QA
- Bristol
England - BS1 4QA
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Most city centre bus services stop within walking distance of Arnolfini. The nearest stops are at The Centre and Queen Square.
- Arnolfini is a 15 minute walk from Bristol Temple Meads railway station. A taxi rank can be found outside the station.
Combining trapeze, contortion, performance art and power ballad, this intimate solo explores romanticised depictions of the female victim alongside the intoxicating sexualisation of the supple and bending body of the contortionist. Part of CIRCUS CITY: UK's largest festival of contemporary circus.
About
The Shedding by Elise Reine from Denmark
The show takes place at Arnolfini on Thursday 16th October at 7.30pm.
Contortionist, snake-woman, slug. I bend into your imagination…Combining trapeze, contortion, performance art and power ballad, this intimate solo explores romanticised depictions of the female victim - à la Twin Peaks’ Laura Palmer - alongside the intoxicating sexualisation of the supple and bending body of the contortionist. Performed with audience on two sides, the viewer's act of watching becomes part of the show.
Enter the realm of Elise Reine in this claustrophobic reckoning with the comfort of dehumanisation.
Elise Bjerkelund Reine is a circus performer and performance creator based in Copenhagen. After 23 years on the trapeze, and as a contortionist in every conceivable position, she uses her circus language to push boundaries and norms, exploring experimental and political topics. In 2023-24 as artist in residence at Östgotateatern, Sweden Reine created 5 performances collected in the manifesto “How far are you willing to Bend”. The Shedding is chapter 4 of the collection.
A UK premier.
“Don’t expect the male or the female gaze, because THE SHEDDING is 100% the Reine gaze.” sceneblog.dk
Stay after the show to learn more about it and the creation process in a talk and q&a with the artist.
Age recommendation: Ages 16+.
Warnings: The show includes nudity and descriptions of violence.
Access: The show will include BSL interpretation.
