Afrika with a k came to North Greenwich last night. Your bachelor critic was there. Kate Middleton, by supposed coincidence, was there too. A mere three tiers apart, we enjoyed a circus show that was as joyful and gasp-inducing as all such shows should be.

Apparently, more than 100 performers from over 20 African nations contribute to this extravaganza. It starts predictably with a voiceover - going on about "worlds of transformation" and the like. No one paid attention - the twins from Big Brother were, after all, close by. Then the show proper began. People paid attention then.

Gallery: See the stars at Afrika! Afrika!

This is a spectacle that, for all our familiarity with the tricks of the circus, manages to push that inch further, beyond the impressive to the properly enthralling. The juggler juggles, but upside down, bouncing balls off the floor.

Climbers sprint up and down vertical poles, then one scales it with just his hands, his body horizontal and travelling with motion so smooth it almost counts as flying. The plate-spinner is pretty mundane, but tops his act by vomiting huge streams of water from his previously empty mouth.

There's nothing African per se about many of the circus arts on display, but the designers and choreographers always make sure the theme is served to some degree.

One act is heralded by a parade of jungle animals - including ostriches à la Bernie Clifton. The juggler just gets some women in tall headgear standing behind him and Graceland-style music (there is a lot of this).

There is, as you'd expect, traditional dancing, but there's a fair bit of modern Afro-American influence too. There are two routines with basketballs, there's some break-dancing, and a guy in sharp clothes tap dances to funky music on the back of a pink Chevvy.

Hardly stuff to challenge anyone's cultural assumptions. Still, I suppose it's hard to set a unicycle routine in an architect's office.

Either way, it's the contortionists who steal the show. The male version is one thing, squeezing himself through a tennis racket with the utmost showmanship. His catsuited female counterpart is another.

Starting off seductively flexible, the coils she pulls off quickly raise the disturbance to stomach level. "That is rank!" exclaimed the Chancery barrister to my right. Fair enough - this is not an evening for keeping your composure.