An undeniable demonstration of the technical and artistic excellence developed by Cirque du Soleil over the last 40 years, Kurios, the company’s thirty-fifth production, returns to Montreal this summer, ten years after being created there. Directed by Michel Laprise, the show has been presented more than 2,800 times across the globe. Bringing together 49 artists from 17 different countries, the adventure runs until August 25 under the big top erected on the Jacques-Cartier quay of the Old Port of Montreal.
When you enter the big top, intimate despite the fact that it can accommodate 2,400 people, the show has, in a way, already begun. Children and their parents are invited to use the footbridge that crosses the stage. Very intriguing creatures come and go, starting with Treuil and Ventouse, funny robots who inspect the gleaming inventions of the Researcher, the mad scientist who welcomes us into his cabinet of curiosities.
The set design by Stéphane Roy, the lighting by Martin Labrecque, the costumes by Philippe Guillotel, the makeup by Eleni Uranis and the sound design by Jean-Michel Caron and Jacques Boucher are incredibly rich. Copper color palette, clever juxtapositions of leather and metal, angular and very expressive faces, noisy gears and rails on which flashy and luminous objects travel… we never cease to marvel at this vibrant homage to steampunk, a movement thanks to which the he Victorian era meets science fiction.
Suddenly darkness falls and the magic begins. In the stands, from one end of the hemicycle to the other, a train runs, the carriages of which are placed on the shoulders of the artists. Then the locomotive appears on stage and pours out a colorful fauna. Placing dance and theater at the forefront, this initial tableau is pure delight. This is one of the moments where the choreographies of Yaman Okur and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, performed to the irresistible electro-jazz tunes of Raphaël Beau and Bob&Bill, give the troupe, including the six musicians, a cohesion which, just like the deliciously old-fashioned aesthetic, strongly evokes the golden age of big top circuses.
You will have understood that we are here closer to the shows of Daniele Finzi Pasca than to those of Franco Dragone. In the circus on a human scale imagined by Michel Laprise, poetry emerges from all sides, largely compensating for the sometimes tenuous nature of the narrative thread. Among these interludes whose beauty leaves you speechless, let us mention the appearances of Mademoiselle Lili, a little person who lives in the coat of the potbellied Mr. Microcosmos, and the audacious object theater segment of Nicolas Baixas, a hand game filmed in live and projected onto a hot air balloon overlooking the stage. While the invisible circusthe first number of the clown Facundo Gimenez, is rather disappointing, the second, where he plays a cat with as much humor as agility, is a real favorite.
But above all we should not believe that Kurios is devoid of acrobatic feats. In the first part, two balancing acts, those of Viktor Levoshuk (on chairs) and James Gonzalez (on boards and rollers), are impressive, sometimes even terrifying, but also very original from a formal point of view. In the second part, seven “fish” captivate the audience by jumping prodigiously in an immense net. On the aerial straps, Darián Cobas and Caoliang Wang demonstrate both strength and precision. No doubt, this show, which we leave with regret, is a very good vintage. We bet he still has many good years ahead of him.