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 | Quidam Cirque du Soleil Bonython Park, Season finished Like most of the Cirque du Soleil offerings, working out exactly what ‘Quidam’ is all about is more than a bit difficult, although ultimately this has little or no impact on the quality of the performance itself. Which is just as well, perhaps I just like the things I see to have some kind of a narrative. ‘Quidam’ has no narrative that I can discern, yet it does have themes, or if you will, ideas of presentation which are touched upon and revisited during the evening. A man with no head, dressed in an overcoat and carrying an umbrella drifts through proceedings occasionally. Another ‘theme’ might be of family: a small girl and her parents are suspended in chairs somewhere above the large lap stage as the evening’s entertainment begins. They are lowered to the stage. Periodically the little girl makes a brief reappearance, as do her parents, but they reappear less often. At the end of the night it might well be the case that the three are reunited. I think that is so, but I wouldn’t stake my professional reputation upon the fact. No, I didn't have a program to explain the plot, but if the story needs too be explained seperate to the performance, has it succeeded? In some ways ‘Quidam’ is the most technically adept of the three major Cirque du Soleil shows to have toured Australia, but it is also the most threadbare in terms of actual content. And here’s my point: if you have no storyline to carry your audience through the evening with you, it’s probably better to be able to bedazzle them with tricks and flashing lights. Other shows (the first, ‘Allegria’ comes immediately to mind) were masterpieces of action, such that as soon as one performance troupe finished another was beginning it’s routine elsewhere in the vast performance space. It’s a bit like watching a cage at a zoo: catching a flash of moving colour is so much more rewarding than peering into the foliage for hours on end. Highlights were few: the Chinese diabolos (a combination juggling and rope act) and the skipping ropes soloists (Norihisa Taguchi and Christine Cadeau) were as good as it gets. Even given this relative paucity in circus entertainment, it must be said that the skipping rope performers were amazing - they were undoubtedly highlights. And so, had someone asked me a day later ‘What was that all about?’ I would not have been able to offer an answer. A triumph of form over content?  | |
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