Not an experience you’d want to repeat: Shen Yun, at the Eventim Apollo, reviewed

If you live in London, you may well have spotted Shen Yun’s enormous candy-coloured posters on the Underground, endorsed by puffs from authorities proclaiming the show to be ‘very, very on top’ and ‘an exemplary display of excellence’. This primitive advertising strategy seems to have worked: on the night I went, the Hammersmith Apollo (capacity around 3,500) was filled to the gills, the crowd made up of the same social mix that you might find at the Cirque du Soleil. What did any of us think we’d be getting?

‘Shen Yun’, as the two robotically scripted compères informed us in front of the curtain, is Chinese for something along the lines of ‘the beauty of divine beings dancing’. Based in New York, it trains and operates eight troupes that tour globally, presenting a different programme every year – a model similar to the Holiday on Ice franchise ubiquitous in my youth.