CIRCUS thrills and Russian folklore legend Rasputin collide as the Moscow State Circus rolls into town tonight.

The award-winning show Legenda mixes contemporary and classical circus at its very best, bringing with it a huge cast of the country’s most talented performers who push the boundary of human physical ingenuity to its very limits.

Gregory Rasputin was often described as a romantic, a mystic and a visionary. His vivid dreams will form the theme of the show, blended with the pride of Russia’s most magnificent artistes and state-of-the-art special effects.

The newly-devised show - hosted by Andre Voronin as Rasputin - is housed in a climate-controlled, specially-designed chapiteau theatre big top which isy domed to accommodate the complex rigging for the aerial acts. It is supported by only four king poles so as not to obscure the audience’s view.

Audiences will gasp at performances by The Didyk, a double Russian swing troupe catapulting themselves high into the big top and across the ring; Gregory’s Girls

suspended in mid-air on floating silks and Doctorov’s unbelievable Human Statues and breath-taking balancing action which defy the laws of physics.

There’ll also be Bortnikova body twisting contortionists, award-winning clowns Valik and Valerik who have

perfected the art of

slapstick and cunning Buster Keeton style capers, Kvlividze Troupe on the rotating wheel of death and the seen to be believed crossbow act of The Popazovs where you will see a wife shoot an apple off her husband’s head from seven simultaneous crossbows.

n Legenda, by the Moscow State Circus, will be at Ipswich’s Trinity Park Show Ground until July 11.