Cirque du Soleil rolls into Birmingham

It is the world's most famous circus, renowned for incredible stunts and acrobatic skill. But last night the audience got to see what happens when it goes wrong at Cirque du Soleil.

It was the most colourful scene of the show, as a troupe of gymnast clowns swung on a giant swing, flipped and tumbled 25 foot in the air and landed on a mattress the size of a double bed.

But as two clowns, one stood on the other's shoulders, fell the show was stopped.

A slick operation followed as the music was silenced, the performers ran off stage and the doctors ran on.

The main character, a clown dressed in green and yellow, stayed on the stage with his colleague and held up a screen to shield him from the audience. Only his awful groaning could be heard.

He was then stretchered off and the show carried on with as much colour and energy as before.

The daredevil acts are what makes the Cirque du Soleil so amazing. The stars are at the top of their game and they achieve things that look impossible to mere mortals.

The show started with the acrobats slithering effortlessly up and down poles, hanging upside down and jumping mid-air between them.

Then there were the four ethereal acrobats, flying weightlessly in bungees, so high that they skimmed the top of the stage.

Even the seemingly easier acts pose their own huge dangers.

The Spanish drummers who swung two metal ball on chains around their heads as such speed they became a blur, or the cyclist who did a handstand on his handle bars while making circles of the stage.

The accident highlighted the risks these performers take on a daily basis and the total professionalism of the crew.