There are now many plays and musicals being streamed access the internet but sometimes we all need a bit of variety. You need something you can just watch and enjoy, something where you do not have to follow a complicated story, or get heavily invested in the lives of the characters on stage only for them to die, be heartbroken or something else tragic. So, I propose to you that at times like these, when we are anxious about the outside world and fed up being stuck indoors, there is simply nothing better than watching people performing incredible death defying acrobatic feats on, for example, a giant floating ships high above an enormous swimming pool!
Cue Cirque Du Solei with their 60 minute special!
This 60 minute special takes sections from a number of Cirque Du Solei performances and, for that, I think we are very lucky. I have only seen 2 of their shows so to get the chance to experience a few more snippets of their productions was a real treat.
We see a swing-to-swing performance – two huge swinging platforms that acrobats launch themselves between – in the Mexican themed Luzia, the bizarre steampunk world of Kurios – Cabinet Of Curiosities complete with trapeze aerial trapeze artists dangling from huge clouds while others perform on an enormous trampoline high above the ground. But the most amazing of the selection is ‘O’ which features synchronised swimming and aerial parallel bars on a huge pirate ship. I have seen a couple of Cirque Du Solei shows but this one, with the stage filled with water, is spectacular. And of course, no cirque is complete without fire and we got some of that too!
I do sometimes wonder how they come up with their ideas. “Oh you can do aerial rope work? You’re willing to swing 100ft in the air? Can you also do it while playing with a life size tiger puppet? And what about if we add water?” And this is why Cirque Du Solei are so amazing at what they do. No one does it like them! No one tells a story how they do while also providing such astounding performances.
Every bit of this 60 minutes special is amazing. The music is beautiful, the acrobatics mind blowing and the ingenuity of the storytelling second to none. There is no detail which isn’t considered, there isn’t a second where something isn’t happening and (aside from the clowns – not my cup of tea) every moment will keep you enthralled.
Their world-class gymnasts, acrobats, contortionists, hand-puppeteers,clowns, actors and musicians are enchanting and thankfully for us all, there is another 60 minute special out tomorrow!
Playhouse Pickings 