United Kingdom Cirque du Soleil – Alegría, in a brand new mild: Royal Albert Corridor, London, 17.1.2024. (CS)

Manufacturing:
Creation director (2019) – Daniel Ross
Director (2019) – Jean-Man Legault
Costume designer – Dominique Lemieux
Set and Props designer – Anne-Séguin Poirier
Lighting designer – Mikki Kunttu
Composer and Arranger – René Dupéré
Musical director and Arranger – Jean-Phi Goncalves
Acrobatic Choreographer and Acrobatic Efficiency designer – Émilie Therrien

Cirque du Soleil have returned to the Royal Albert Corridor with an outdated favorite, Alegría, presenting the present which has been staged greater than 6,000 occasions and loved by hundreds of thousands because it was first seen in 1994, ‘in a brand new mild’ (‘un nouveau jour’, 2019).

Cirque reveals have various levels of narrative route and coherence.  Totem (2010) is formidable in tracing the evolution of human life from amphibian to air-borne, and in its exploration of man’s relationship with the pure world.  Corteo (2005) presents a extra conventional mix of people and fairy story, mixing the mundane and the surreal.  Luzia (2016) tells its dazzling story by technical wizardry and high-octane innovation.  The narrative of Alegría is probably much less pretentious than some and has a extra homely appeal – although that doesn’t essentially make it any extra coherent!

Anne-Séguin Poirier’s set presents a hovering, spiky arch – harking back to a primordial forest – on the centre of which perches a gilded thorny throne.  It lacks an inhabitant, the King being lengthy lifeless, and the King’s Idiot, Mr Fleur, fancies his possibilities at ruling the dominion.  So, the red-garbed jester, a spry Rumpelstiltskin-like determine (Bogdan Zavalishyn), seats himself within the throne’s prickly embrace, enjoys the adulation of some butterfly-winged nymphs, and watches as a wrestle for energy unfolds between the outdated aristocrats – their extravagant costumes (Dominique Lemieux) crossing Dickensian caricature with commedia dell’arte – and a brand new order of bronzed ‘Bronx’ warriors.

No less than, that’s what the programme e book explains.  Concepts akin to hope, resilience and renewal infuse the songs and music which accompany the motion, as René Dupéré’s powerhouse soundtrack is belted out by ear-pleasingly however innocuously by two singers (Sarah Manesse and Cassia Raquel), one wearing white, the opposite in black, accompanied by accordion, strings and percussion, the latter vibrant and virtuosic.

Interjected between the astonishing acrobatic feats is a long-running love-hate knockabout between two clowns, full with ear-piercing cackles and squeals.  How a lot one enjoys the comedic hyperbole executed by Pablo Bermejo Medina and Pablo Gomis Lopez will rely upon private inclination and style.  I discovered it considerably tedious, and tangential to the principle ‘narrative’.  However, it fills the gaps because the performers make the required preparations for the next act, and is innocent sufficient.  And, the snowstorm which engulfs the hapless pair on the finish of the primary half is a manic maelstrom of whirling confetti and swirling lights which spills past the sector into the RAH corridors.  The cleansing workforce should have a hell of a job to clear up the paper fragments the subsequent morning.

As all the time, although, it’s the feats of energy, talent and stamina that take one’s breath away.  Alegría appears to me to current fewer ensemble spectacles than different Cirque reveals I’ve seen, but when the emphasis is on particular person management, energy, grace, stability and poise then there isn’t a lack of mind-blowing bodily virtuosity and show.

Ghislain Ramage turns into one along with his Cyr wheel, executing a brilliantly managed and poised routine which is an absolute alliance of energy and style.  Even when the wheel appears to be spinning on a near-horizontal axis, writhing to a thumping beat, Ramage is elegant inside its body, and his steely gaze stays as unwavering as the one hand that generally welds him to the wheel because it whips round.  The trapeze duo, Roxanne Gilliand and Nicolai Kuntz, execute completely synchronised twists and tumbles as they dangle aloft.  The magnificence and audacity of aerial strap artists Yulia Makeeva and Alexey Turchenko, as their our bodies interweave in mid-air, is breathtaking.  How on earth does Turchenko catch Makeeva, as she slithers and spins, along with his toes?  How can she be suspended by his neck?  One actually does blink and marvel if one’s eyes have deceived one.

Daria Kalinina and Halina Starevich’s meticulous and masterful ‘hand-to-hand’ gymnastics sees the 2 girls transfer as one physique, their unfolding actions amphibious, lovely, requiring astonishing stability and energy, qualities to that are added flexibility and zest by Zhuang Yan, as she spins hula hoops along with her toes, whereas perched with good poise on one hand, or bursts with power as she turns herself right into a glittering spinning prime.

There are, after all, some gorgeous ensembles, not least ‘Powertrack’ which turns the sector platform right into a criss-cross trampoline throughout which tumblers race, athletic and exuberant, their adrenalin rising as they execute a tempest of ever-more impudent twists, flips and rolls.  The sheer exhilaration etched not simply on their faces as they land their flights, but in addition in each inch of muscle and sinew, is intoxicating.  The present begins with acro poles: how can somebody be bounced from a flexible pole, tossed into the air, flip, tuck and flip umpteen occasions after which land, as safe as an oak tree’s roots, feet-first on the shoulders of somebody who’s themselves balanced on another person’s shoulders?  It’s a mix of micro-precision, muscularity and sheer miracle.  Then there’s Falaniko Solomona Penesa whose fearless, frenetic juggling provides the phrase ‘enjoying with hearth’ a complete new which means.

The present closes with a flying trapeze finale.  Sitting underneath the ‘flight path’ of the athletes as they flung themselves with gleeful abandon from the RAH rafters, somersaulting with superhuman confidence and synchronicity, was a frankly jaw-dropping expertise.

‘Alegría’ is a Mexican-Spanish phrase which means happiness and gaiety.  This present definitely serves up a surfeit of pleasure.

Alegría continues on the Royal Albert Corridor till third March.

Claire Seymour