‘Quidam’, the unusual name of Cirque du Soleil’s ninth show, derives from Latin and means ‘a certain one/thing’ or ‘anonymous passerby’. This sounds mysterious, somewhat contradictory and doesn’t really seem to make sense – and yet perfectly summarises the atmosphere of the show.
Cirque du Soleil presented a very surreal, intricate, professional and stunning show at the likewise stunning and perfectly transformed Royal Albert Hall. The loose story of Quidam revolves around a little girl who, bored by her parents’ silence and lack of communication, imagines a surreal world of her own, full of colourful and fantastic creatures.
At first I was a bit confused by the many random appearances and effects (such as one creature just running across the stage and disappearing again, without perceptible reason” or a group of others moving like seals in a dark corner of the stage)” I realise I must have had a somewhat grown-up, narrow-minded (and/or German?) desire for a clearly structured story that made total sense, featuring stereotyped characters with exaggerated expressions of simple emotions (Ã la the clown vs. the villain vs. the innocent little girl, just like in any good old Grimm tale.) But after a while I got used to the friendly chaos, accepted that not everything does have to make sense and therefore started to embrace the surreal, childlike imagination of the heroine.
It was my first Cirque du Soleil show and my expectations weren’t exactly low from what I had heard over the years – and indeed, the high quality of acrobatic skills, the range of effects created by the sophisticated technical, stage and light design, and the amazing and imaginative costumes brought a magical show to life and did their reputation justice.
Certain acrobatic scenes created this instant, overwhelming ‘wooooow’ reaction because the skills featured seemed superhuman” others needed to be more consciously appreciated, since – being the average, moderately talented audience members that we are – we might not quite understand the effort involved in the seemingly effortless.
Another very subtle and hidden but nevertheless mentionworthy highlight was the photographic exhibition in the hallway of the Royal Albert Hall. It featured about 30 or so beautifully intimate photographs of the crew members behind the scenes: during rehearsals or breaks or in the dressing room putting up their own make-up. It was nice and touching to be granted access to the actors that we had just seen on stage, being able to look behind their show facade and be reassured that even they are just human beings.
Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam runs at the Royal Albert Hall until 15 Feb.
