The Peacock Theatre has a long lease with London’s principal centre for contemporary dance, Sadler’s Wells, with whom it has negotiated a deal to bring in dance companies under the banner ‘Sadler’s Wells in the West End’. The venue often plays host to dance performances, conferences, ballet, pop concerts and award ceremonies.
Positioned at the heart of the renewal of circus arts, Cirque Éloize has been creating moving performances since 1993. Continually striving for artistic perfection, it is one of the leaders in contemporary circus arts. Based on the multidisciplinary talents of its artists, Cirque Éloize expresses its innovative nature through theatricality and humanity, and combines circus arts with music, dance and theatre in a ground breaking and very original manner. With ten original productions of the companies, Cirque Éloize has presented more than four thousand performances in over four hundred and forty cities spanning forty countries. The shows of the company have awe struck the audiences of the West End and Broadway.
The show is staged through a series of episodes and each performer either being integral to a chorus scene or having their own individual solo moments, all of which are filled with cleverly structured interludes. The first major scene was that of an office scene that incorporated a lot of the cast scooting, jumping and flipping over the table centre stage whilst the office worker ducked, dipped, and dived out of there way on his wheeled stool sliding under and around the table. This scene also incorporated a lot of hand balancing, partner work and sports acrobatics skills. An easy show pleaser to begin with for the masses of the audience. The next large ensemble number in the show was when the entire cast were juggling clubs. This was done whilst they were moving through different formations, changing direction and launching them a good thirty feet across stage over a multitude of people juggling underneath them with people stood on the stools and table. All of which again, due to the vast amount of traffic and amount of things happening wowed the audience.
Following on from that, the production took a very sharp turn into a very peaceful scene involving Léa Toran Jenner on the Cyr Wheel. She was utterly mesmerising. The range of sequences and moves performed on the wheel were just incredible. A certain moment during her routine was a full split on the wheel and with the addition of the beautiful piano accompaniment of ‘Something Chimes In Me’, made this section encapsulating.
The next outstanding moment was when Maria Combarras performed with the males of the cast. She performed a mixture of contortion, dance and hand balancing, all of which were executed marvellously. The fluidity of her movements and her lines were just gorgeous. She performed everything with such grace and poise she was truly a joy to watch.
Originally, the beginning of the first scene left me unsure what to expecting, hoping that it wasn’t going to be another “abstract circus piece”. However, within moments all my worries were vanquished due to the sheer talent on stage.
With only a short tour schedule grab tickets while you can!
Reviewed by Thomas Yates
Cirkopolis is playing at the Peacock Theatre until 28 February. Click here to book tickets.