Varekai

Cirque du Soleil presents Varekai

Review by Murray Chapman

The first circus I ever went to was Circus Vargas some time in the 1970s. They had set up their tent in the parking lot of the Lougheed Mall in Burnaby, BC, and I remember the experience emotionally but not completely. Details such as how they had driven large metal spikes into the bitumen to secure the ropes for the tent are still clear in my mind (vandalism, I thought!), and the fact that they had lions, tigers, clowns, and trapeeze artists remains in my mind. I remember there were three rings, and although they did a good job of directing our attention to the ring where the action was occurring, as a small child the action at the far end of the tent seemed to be literally miles away. The smell of popcorn and gunpowder burnt itself forever into my memory, even if I can't remember the names of the performers or specifically what they did.

Fast forward to my next circus experience in around 1995: Circus Royale (I think), next to the RBH in Brisbane, Queensland. To say that it was a disappointment would be a dreadful understatement: even as we drove into the carpark it was unpleasant: we had to run the gauntlet of animal rights protestors who were trying to shame both the circus itself and those who attended. The entire experience reeked of fatigue and death: a tent that had obviously been in service since the early part of the century. Gilded props that were battered and torn. Animals - although probably not mistreated - that were certainly enthusiastic or even exotic. Costumes and design motifs that screamed "1972": flared trousers and Adam West-style capes. The performers were definitely "lifers": several generations of carnies hanging on desperately to a way of life that suffered a mortal blow with the advent of television, let alone video games and big-budget movies.

Perhaps I was just older and more cynical; was I seeing things with a different eye? Was Circus Vargas really the same, and I was just too young and naive to see it? By the time that "Captain Australia" had limped his way through his routine of checking his mighty cannon before being fired limply across the tent into a sagging net, I decided that circuses belonged in the same category as James Bond films starring Roger Moore: as a child they are the best thing you've ever seen, but as an adult you're almost embarrassed to watch them.

I gave the circus one more chance in around 1998, this time at Dreamworld. As a permanent attraction, I hoped that it would be more professional and suffer less from the bohemian fleetingness that was all too obvious during my last circus experience. Alas, it was even worse: we fled the tent after less than 30 minutes, driven by the raw stench of elephant dung.

And so I gave up on the circus.

While the traditional concept of the Big Top Circus may have (mercifully) become extinct, the essence of the experience never died. Dormant for decades, it is reborn and reinvigorated by Cirque du Soleil, a French-Canadian troupe which has single-handedly redefined the entire concept of cirque.

Gone are the animals and the flim-flam cheesiness, replaced instead by art and the wizardry of modern technology and showmanship. Part dance, part musical, part comedy, but above all featuring acrobatics and atheticism, the events staged by Cirque du Soleil suppress individualism to present an abstract yet coherent spectacle of light, color, and motion.

Varekai is the fourth Cirque du Soleil show I have seen; Mystere was the first (Luxor, Las Vegas), followed by Allegria (on tour, Seattle) and O (The Bellagio, Las Vegas). I would rate O as the best, but that's probably inevitable, considering that it is performed in a custom-built featuring a 1.5 million gallon water tank (O = "eau" = "water", you see!) and thus has an unfair advantage!


Still, Varekai maintains the standards of previous shows. Acrobatics, music, dance, and comedy all share the stage, with never a dull moment. The highlight of the show for me was (as I expected), the acrobatic components: the "Russian Swings" (l) and the "Icarian Games" (r) -- two men who would juggle two other men with their feet, spinning them over and around like a baton.

Other highlights include the clowns (who start their performances from within the crowd as it files in), and the contortionists, who seem to be able to survive just fine despite being equipped with several universal joints instead of a pelvis and a spine. It's often difficult to follow all the action: things can build up in the background, or performers suddenly fly up out of a hole in the stage -- or indeed swoop down from the top of the tent suspended by their head tied to a pair of nylon stockings... watch out!

Cirque du Soleil only comes around every few years; I'd definitely recommend you catch it if you can! Unfortunately, unless you live in Vancouver or Australia, you've already missed them.

Seattle seems to be having a rash of good concerts this year: as well as Varekai, I also saw Queen + Paul Rodgers. Next up, it's a journey into life, love, death, and madness -- another performance I never thought I'd have the chance to see: