It takes a lot to impress 21st-Century kids. Top-quality, hi-tech entertainment at the push of a button is a hard act to follow.

So it is always gratifying to see hundreds of pairs of young eyes glued to a show which relies on physical ingenuity and old-fashioned skill.

The Moscow State Circus offers a big-top variety show which is up close and personal. You can actually smell the greasepaint and see the sweat on the faces of the 35-strong cast.

Natalia Egorova's aerial dance is mesmerising. The high-wire unicycling, somersaulting and roller-skating (some of it blindfolded) from the Highlanders is gripping.

Seven-stone weaklings were left open-mouthed at strong man Hercules' sheer power. I thought I had misheard when the ringmaster announced he would pick up six 70lb weights plus five men but that's exactly what he did.

As a finale, he then laid prostrate as a 5,000lb jeep rolled over him, leaving the audience wincing.

Slavos launched themselves into a fast-moving springboard display, topped off with an impressive five-turn somersault while trio Pathos presented a strangely androgynous balancing act.

Clowns Foma and Yeryoma are award-winners and get plenty of laughs from picking on members of the audience. If you have a front row seat, prepare to pucker up you have been warned.

And there were genuine shrieks of delight, when, during their slapstick routine, one performer's trousers fell down revealing a pair of frilly bloomers.

The Sky Travellers' high trapeze routine was a convincing display of teamwork, topped off with a dramatic head-first plunge from the top of the tent into a safety net by the only female member of the team.

And the juggling Bugrova Sisters were the Cheeky Girls with talent. The show is heavily clown-based but at least there are laughs, which are perhaps lacking in similar circuses.

The big-top setting is thrilling for little ones and the costumes are predictably over the top some are loud enough to give you a headache. But a bonus is the live band, often missing at "live" entertainment shows these days.

The extras hot dogs, candy floss, popcorn and flashing paraphernalia, will hit you in the pocket so take your own if you are on a budget. My only other quibble was the lack of running water in the ladies' loos.

But the rest of the show is undoubtedly from Russia with love.