An old favourite is heading back to Brussels this autumn. Cirque du Soleil is back under the big top from September with its latest offering: “Kurios – Cabinet of Curiosities.” It is one its most critically acclaimed touring shows and is the first time the company has appeared in the city for some years.
No less than 49 artists from sixteen different countries will be on hand to present the show which has been touring the world since it first premiered in Montreal in April 2014 and which has already been seen by 4.5 million spectators at 2,000 performances in 30 different cities.
Around 60% of the artists have already worked with Cirque du Soleil before and the show has been critically acclaimed the world over. It revisits the signature Cirque du Soleil style of performance by weaving jaw-dropping acrobatics with a refreshing touch of poetry, artistry and humour.
The show has been hailed as a “celebration of the power of the imagination” and Kurios includes contortion, juggling and acrobatic acts with characters such as an accordion man, an aviator, a clown, underwater creatures and robots – but never animals. Cirque du Soleil, since its creation in 1984, has never used live animals but, rather, only creatures embodied by humans.
The international press has hailed the new show with, for example, the Toronto Star saying “Kurios is Cirque du Soleil’s strongest act in years.” The Globe and Mail in Canada described it as a “kinetic, whimsical and astounding new production.”
The musical score was composed by Raphaël Beau in collaboration with Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard, while the show’s director is Michel Laprise, whose career highlights range from directing Madonna’s award-winning 2012 tour to revolutionising Cirque Du Soleil with his Emmy-winning virtual reality movie Kurios: Inside The Box. Laprise worked in the theatre world for 9 years as an actor, director and artistic director before joining Cirque du Soleil in 2000. He has staged numerous large-scale and innovative events, including the Eurovision Song Contest opening show in 2009 in Russia and the opening ceremony of the basketball world championships.
A Cirque du Soleil spokesman summarised the new show, which lasts about 125 minutes, saying: “A researcher discovers that it is by closing his eyes that the inaccessible ceases to be.” In his cabinet of curiosities, he is convinced that there is a hidden world, invisible, where the craziest ideas and the most grandiose dreams slumber.
“Characters from another world suddenly land in his universe made of odds and ends. These curious and benevolent beings will upset his daily life by infusing it with a hint of poetry. And a dose of humour to awaken his imagination. It is then that the curiosities that populate his cabinet will come to life one by one before his eyes. And if all it took was a bit of curiosity and imagination to access wonderful?”, the spokesman added.
This is Cirque du Soleil’s 35th production since 1984 and its travelling village includes the Big Top, artistic tent, ticket office, kitchen, offices and much more. The site is completely autonomous in terms of electricity and in sourcing its own facilities.
The show’s run starts on 7 September at Brussels Expo (next to Hall12) and ticket info is available via the website.
Curious trivia:
- To make the man’s outfit accordion, the costume designer spent a whole week sewing the inside of the suit.
- Rima Hadchiti, the artist who plays the role of Mademoiselle Lili, measures 1m and weighs 18.6 kg. She is one of 10 smallest people in the world.
- The mechanical hand weighs 340 kg and measures 4.5 x 2 m.
- There are more than 100 different costumes that dress the Kurios characters.
- There are 426 accessories in the show, which is the highest number of all Cirque du Soleil productions.
- 65 trucks transport almost 2,000 tonnes of equipment for the show.
- The 122 members of the tour come from 23 different countries.
- Some artists have been on tour with Cirque du Soleil for more than 15 years.
- The prop team needed approximately 250 hours to conceptualize and build the first belly model round of Mr. Microcosmos.
- All artists are responsible to put on their own make-up for each show, which can take between 30 minutes to two hours.
