Review: Circa

Circus is a difficult art form when it comes to the exploration of work and in its attempts at raising the profile of this technical art. Circa’s new work of the same name, attempts to explore the boundaries of what circus can be, although somewhere along the line its artistic director Yaron Lifschitz seems to equally have gotten lost in the boundaries.

Circa is an 80 minute piece exploring the companies work into circus, acrobatic, and physical work. It shifts from subtle mini explorations of the body, to large aerial work, yet somehow I am not convinced by the outcome. The performers are impressive, their skills are above the level of standard I have seen in recent months when it comes to both ability and energy. They deliver their acts with brilliant percission and skill. They are trained to perfection.

The problem with this performance is Lifschitz attempts are breaking apart the boundaries of the performance of circus work, with the exploration of the companies work – it’s research and development. It almost feels like Circa is a showcase of the companies work, a ‘look what we can do with our bodies’ style which leaves no room for performance narrative or substance.

Of course any performance relating to circus and acrobatic work can do without a narrative nor spoken dialogue – yet Circa needs this to piece together the various ‘acts’ together. The companies explorations of their body is fascinating, with their deep understanding of small movements of hands, muscles, limps but in the greater context of the piece, much is lost and not found.

The highlight of the night has to come from a daredevil moment between a female and male performer. The female in question wears bright red high heel shoes, and proceeds to stand and balance on her partner. This act continues as she moves around his body, standing on his legs, chest, shoulders – whilst the man shifts balance with skill and sheer muscle strength. The subtle undertones of sexual relationships between them spoke volumes – this work is clearly pushing the boundaries, giving shock and delight to its audiences. It is just a shame that the rest of the piece doesn’t work in this manner.

Circa may have proved that their skills are finely trained, but their artistic approach to a performance leaves little to be desired.

Circa is part of the Bite 10 Season at the Barbican Theatre and is performing from 9th – 14th March. Tickets available through the website.

Review: Öper Öpis

How often can you say you have been to see a show at the theatre, and been completely blown away? Taken somewhere where only the imagination can dream of such things, or perhaps just drawn into a story and then seeing it explode in front of you?

When watching Öper Öpis at the Barbican Centre by Zimmermand and de Perrot I am reminded of the following quote written by Lyn Gardner from The Guardian in her article ‘Theatre Must Chance… Us’:

“When I’m in the theatre, I want to feel as if some kind of risk is taking place, that I might be taken somewhere I find scary – that the performers will surprise me and as a result I will surprise myself.”

Öper Öpis is for me, that moment of being taken somewhere that surprises you – a place you find so compelling and intoxicating that you have to remember to breathe. Öper Öpis is quite literally breath taking.

So what happens when you take 5 circus/physical theatre artists, 1 choreographer and 1 music genius, throw them together in a collaborative melting pot with the aim of producing a piece of theatre? The answer: a night worth remembering! Öper Öpis enthralled my senses, made me gasp and laugh in all the right moments, no wonder it was the opening event for the London International Mime Festival 2010.

There are so many points to make about this performance that it’s hard to know where to begin. There is the stage design, the musical score, the choreography, the circus acts, the energy, the delivery, and on and on the list goes…

Zimmerman and de Perrot

We are met by Zimmerman and de Perrot setting the stage – a collection of odd wooden blocks that they position into place along the front of their tilted stage. Then looping of sound is captured from the falling of the blocks as they get knocked over. Gradually this is combined with music, to create a surreal sound scape that underscores the whole performance. This music is put together masterfully, at times the bass rumbled through the Barbican Theatre as if in a club and coupled with the scratching of records in the loop it’s hard not to get lost in this sound scape alone.

The performers of Öper Öpis are odd, when compared with each other they represent two ends of the specturum, from little to large in weight, to small and ginormous in height. They can only be described as a bit of a freak circus show – yet looking beyond their appearance (which in turn is comic), these performers are skilled beyond belief. They dance, they juggle, they throw themselves around the stage, the jump off each other and perform tricks to integrated with the music that it becomes as one.

Some highlights for me included the slapping of thighs from the largest of performers creating a looping thigh repeated slaps in the music to the areobatics act who suddenly producers a chair instead of the other performer from no where.

It is hard to know where to look during the performance, as the action happens on a stage that tilts with the performers as they move. This design beautifully mirrors the performers in their balancing acts of leadership and contrasts of shape and size. The stage rocks from one side to another never fully settling into place before the performers push it into another direction.

The choreography of the piece is crafted in such a way that the 70 minute performance flies past. No wonder the show won the Swiss Dance and Choreography Award in 2009. It is executed in such a manner that the performers are alive with energy and skill. There is no dialogue but what better language that of the way a body moves in space?

Circus is often an under appreciated art form but Zimmerman and de Perrot have turned it into something much more than just tricks and skill. Their blending of music, dance, circus, and performance creates an inspiring show.

Öper Öpis is part of the London International Mime Festival 2010, and also in association with the Barbican Bite 10 programme. The show is only on until 16th January 2010, but check out Zimmerman and de Perrot’s website for clips and more tour dates.