It wouldn't be Christmas without Zippos in Hyde Park. And once again, showman Martin Burton has served up a cracker.
Don't be fooled by the 45 minute runtime (performed three times a day). Zippos annual Christmas show is no mere sideshow to the wider Winter Wonderland funfair that it is part of. It is in fact one of the best circus shows you will see all year.
If anything, the short interval-free format works in its favour. You get everything you would see in a two hour show condensed into a fast-flowing parade of world class circus acts without a moment of padding.
This year's show is especially focused on the acts, without any dance routines or costumed snowman or polar bear characters to interrupt the acrobatics, clowning and illusions.
Introduced by a traditionally dressed ringmaster, the show begins with a brief opening parade, in which all the artists appear, brandishing presents. During this, a male and female performer shin up a rope into the lofty heights of the big top.
Then we're straight into a daring high altitude cradle act. There are gasps and cheers from the crowd as the male catcher throws his female partner into a series of rapid somersaults, spinning her over and over.
The act's finale draws gasps as she appears to fall... only to continue to swing from her partner's hands on a pair of long ropes that then lower her to the stage.
Without pause for breath, an skilled diabolist takes to the spotlight, deftly flipping a stick about between two others. The only downside is that he performs in the entrance aisle, which presumably restricts his visibility from other parts of the large tent.
Then the big guns come out in the form of a Super Swing troupe. The Super Swing is more traditionally known as a Russian Swing, but I guess no one wants to be associated with the Russians at the moment!
Whatever you wish to call it, the place to watch this act from is the entrance aisle seats of the front couple of rows. The big swing swings right out into the aisle, bringing the nearest punters as close as they will ever get to such a big dynamic act. Viewed up close, this really is circus at its most physically impressive.
The audience duly cheers as performers fly off the swing into a big sheet positioned in front of the ring doors.
Curiously, though, the high point of the act isn't the somersaulting flyers. It's when the last man on the swing swings it upside down over the bar, turning a full 360 degrees several times. Simple as it may sound on paper, this is circus guaranteed to put a big grin on the face of the most jaded circus goer.
Speaking of grins, one of the show's three big highlights is provided by clown duo Los Revelinos - one of them sporting a topical Trump wig.
Clowns can be a hit and miss affair. We've probably all sat through interminable clown interludes that just weren't funny, and sighed while we waited for the daredevilry to recommence.
But these two larger-than-life characters really are funny. The first part of their routine is a musical number that proves they can play their instruments as well as clown around.
The highlight comes when 'Trump' throws a bomb into his partner's tuba. With a bang and a puff of smoke, the end of the tuba is blown into the air and lands on Trump's head like a hat.
The second part of their act is a slapstick boxing match in which the slaps really resound. Even the ringmaster gets a clout. He says afterwards that that one wasn't in the rehearsal. He may say that at every performance, but he looks shaken enough for us to believe that the anarchic funnymen really did take him by surprise.
The third of my favourite acts is a magic segment featuring the boldly costumed Joseph Popey and two assistants, one male and one female.
Performed wordlessly, with no patter to slow things down, it's a fast moving routine with a couple of impressive disappearing/appearing illusions, including vanishing from a cage suspended high in the air.
He also does a very funny mangle gag in which he is squashed into a paper cut-out.
Interestingly, one of Popey's assistants is Neli from the Duo Stefaneli. Her partner Stefan has a couple of run-ons as a nerd clown throughout the show. But he and Neli seem underused carrying props on and off for other acts when they have a top class aerial act and quick change act of their own, either of which would have been nice to see included here. Maybe they fancied light duties over Christmas.
Elsewhere in the show, a Mexican man does an impressive fabrics display that includes a hang from the back of his neck at high altitude. Another man gives us both contortionism and hand balancing. And a female silk act closes the show with an elegant and dramatic routine that left the audience audibly wowed.
At that point it was time for everyone to return to the ring to wave the audience off with an inevitable blast of Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas.
All I want for next Christmas is another Zippos show as good as this one.
Zippos Christmas Circus is at Winter Wonderland until 1 January.
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