Paranormal Cirque has set up shop in Pleasant Prairie — and it’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.

The live show, performed under a towering black-and-red big top tent in the Premium Outlets parking lot, combines theater, circus and cabaret.

The company started performing in June of 2018 as an offshoot of an Italian company, Cirque Italia.

Sarah Kessler, a media representative, explained that Paranormal Cirque features “acts that are more traditional circus-style — aerial acts with silks, the Cyr Wheel, magic acts, dancing — all mixed with a dark theme. We have adult comedy and language, which is why it’s restricted to ages 17 and older. Ages 13 to 17 can go with an adult.”

The circus stuff, which features no animal acts, is actually only part of the show.

Kessler said audience members should “get here 45 minutes to an hour early for our pre-show. In the front tent, we have ‘scare actors’ who will scare you. It’s like our own little haunted house. There’s a graveyard area and people with chainsaws chasing you; it’s an early Halloween-style show.

“The show came over from Italy and has gotten a great reception,” Kessler said. “People who love Halloween and scary stuff just love it. We appeal to those people who are first in line to see scary movies.”

After the creepy pre-show stuff, the show itself, she said, “isn’t scary. The show has a narrator in a cloak who takes the audience through the show. There is a narrative to it — about the downfall of humanity caused by greed and evil doings — but it’s more conceptual.”

Audience members, she added, “are on the edge of their seats the whole time with their mouths open. This show really keeps you interested and having fun the whole time.”

Creators describe Paranormal Cirque as “a show that takes you into a world of dreams … or perhaps more accurately a world of nightmares and fantasies.”

“Fear, amusement and surprise are only a few of the ingredients. This is truly a Paranormal experience.”