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Sometimes your process as a reviewer can really feel daunting earlier than it’s even begun. And it was a type of nights as I headed to the long-lasting Royal Albert Hall for Cirque du Soleil’s newest creation. What extra is there to say about this unbelievable troupe, after listening to their identify alongside gasps of pleasure for years? Founded by former road performers in Montreal within the Eighties, Cirque du Soleil is synonymous with breath-taking circus performances and, it gained’t shock anybody to learn, it didn’t disappoint. I don’t assume I’ve shared so many amazed appears to be like with my Dad since I…
Rating
Unmissable!
A genuinely breath-taking expertise that can have you ever gasping in delight and amazement all through.
Sometimes your process as a reviewer can really feel daunting earlier than it’s even begun. And it was a type of nights as I headed to the long-lasting Royal Albert Hall for Cirque du Soleil’s newest creation. What extra is there to say about this unbelievable troupe, after listening to their identify alongside gasps of pleasure for years? Founded by former road performers in Montreal within the Eighties, Cirque du Soleil is synonymous with breath-taking circus performances and, it gained’t shock anybody to learn, it didn’t disappoint. I don’t assume I’ve shared so many amazed appears to be like with my Dad since I used to be a baby: a magical expertise for us each.
Kurios is their newest creation; a mixture of jaw-dropping moments, lovely design, and hilarious interludes. The press night time invitation suggests company gown in steampunk impressed outfits, and people who do mix in fantastically with the set and costumes. The first glimpse of the stage by way of the doorways to the auditorium illicits childlike gasps from my Dad and I, earlier than we now have even taken our seats. It’s beautiful – an overused phrase that greater than earns its worth tonight. Before the present begins characters are pottering across the stage, and because the lights descend, we’re transported to a French steampunk fever dream.
One of the primary of many outstanding performances sees Volodymyr Klavdich and Ekaterina Evdokimova seem on a small platform, the place we witness Evdokimova thrown into the air with the best of ease. Although 95% of me is stuffed with pleasure and admiration, 5% is terrified! It’s a tough look ahead to these of a nervous disposition. But the elation on each catch and fantastically accomplished efficiency is price every nail-biting second.
Other acrobatic highlights embody the surprisingly transferring trapeze act that includes Roman Tomanov and Vitali Tomanov. The magnificence of those two impossibly robust males is a privilege to witness. It was onerous to look at James Gonzalez in his act, Rola Bola, with out masking your eyes – how did he keep upright? And don’t get me began on the sequence with the stacked chairs! Just once you assume they will’t take it additional… effectively I gained’t spoil it, however gasps of pleasure and awe as soon as once more stuffed the auditorium. Lighter moments come from different members of the solid together with Facundo Gimenez and his magnificent invisible circus and the charmingly weird Theatre of Hands with Nico Baixas.
The world of Kurios has been immaculately created, and together with the outstanding set design and costumes, the music and charismatic musicians type the right accompaniment. Close your eyes because the accordion tunes swell, and you possibly can simply be strolling by way of Montmartre, while in different moments the driving bass solely serves to extend your coronary heart fee as you pray that they’ll make that unimaginable leap.
This present is seamless. These are excessive danger performances and issues can go unsuitable. But you by no means discover a security harness being added or eliminated. You don’t even discover an enormous trampoline being taken off stage. The different characters distract you; they sweep you alongside within the obscure narrative. And you’re enraptured by this magical world the place individuals soar by way of the air.
It would have been stunning had this efficiency not been spectacular, however I’ve to confess that the dimensions of my marvel blew me away. I used to be so completely captivated all through, it was a tragic realisation when the curtain name started. It’s price flagging that tickets for this present aren’t low-cost, fairly eye-watering in reality if you wish to be within the stalls, but when you’ll be able to get there one way or the other, it is going to be well-worth the hassle.
Written and directed by: Michel Laprise
Creative route by: Chantal Tremblay
Acrobatic performances designed by: Rob Bollinger, Germain Guillemot and Boris Verkhovsky
Composed by: Bob & Bill, Raphaël Beau
Kurios, The Cabinet of Curiosities performs at Royal Albert Hall till 5 March 2023. Further info and tickets could be discovered right here.