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Cirque Eloize, iD, Peacock Theatre


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This is perhaps stretching the definition of "dance" a bit far, but I was reminded by the Atomos posts that I went to Sadler's Wells "other half" yesterday to watch Canada's Cirque Eloize.  If I remember the company's history correctly (and it must be a decade since I last saw them, at the Barbican), I think the performers trained at Cirque du Soleil but then set up on their own because they wanted to do something less commercial, more "new circus".  Well, I'm not sure how many, if any, of the performers I saw last time were still in the company this time around, so that may have changed, but they were incredibly good still.  This show, I think, has gone rather more "urban" than the previous one I saw, so contains loud music and various types of breakdancing, and a lot of changing visuals, some of which I found rather distracting.  But there's no disguising the skill of the performers: from hand balancing to Chinese pole work, juggling as you've probably never seen it before, some stunning aerial work, "BMX" bike jumping, a man balancing upside down on a stack of chairs so high that it virtually reached the proscenium arch, finishing with a quite amazing session of what they call "trampowalling": bouncing off a trampoline onto walls and the top of the set, and through holes *in* the set, for that matter - which had to be seen to be believed.

 

A highly entertaining evening out, and one I'd give ****+ to.  It's on at the Peacock Theatre off Kingsway, London, until October 19th, I think, and well worth a visit, especially if you can fit it around trips to BRB at "the other place".  You should be warned, though, that there's a brief section of strobing shortly before the end, and I'd have thought the lighting effects immediately preceding it might cause irritation, at least, to some people who are susceptible to such things.

 

Oh, and the set takes the whole of the back of the stage, so this is one case where you don't really want to have a restricted view of the top of the stage, or sit right at the back of the dress circle, I should think.  OTOH, there's just a slight chance of a bit of rather scary audience participation if you sit downstairs ...

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I saw this the other week as well - I was in the seats which do have a restricted view of the top of the stage, and don't think I missed all that much - but it's such a good show that if I saw it again I'd probably pay the extra for the better view. In addition to the bits Alison mentions above - all of which were fab, particularly the trampolining - the skipping segment is utterly stunning. Well worth seeing if there's any tickets available for the last few nights!

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