Cirque du Soleil - Varekai

What a way to spend to spend a birthday - Cirque Du Soleil at The Royal Albert Hall - it certainly distracted me from brooding over the milestone I reached and with great relief appeared also to have survived!

Varekai / Everything - pertaining to human emotion - the quest for love, truth and answers all by the means of hope, bravery, imagination whilst experiencing chaos, confusion and uncertainty - a true rite of passage - my understanding of The Cirque Du Soleil production concept as a whole…

The scene is set - Rainforest - scenery in bamboo form - the costumes, colours and fluid movements transforming performers into curious fantastical critters of the land, air and water. I'm glad to report that although conscientiously alluded to at the top of the show through a slickly executed piece of mime by Brazilian Rodrigo Roleno/The Skywatcher there were no environmentally themed "guilt trips" to mar what was delivered - pure entertainment.

I must profess to being utterly spoilt having now seen two Cirque Du Soleil shows - Zaia currently in residence at The Venetian, Macau and this; on home turf.
It would be wrong not to acknowledge that productions in residence have the upper hand quite simply because their space is purpose built therefore nothing is beyond the realms of possibility. Touring productions are more difficult pieces to keep holistic and retain original features of the artistic vision by the challenge of logistics - however, this does not prevent an awesome amount of stage manipulation, perilously high scaffold flight towers and the overall atmosphere created through music/lighting/sound and staging all being successfully installed into a traditional and complex Victorian structure such as the Royal Albert Hall. This established I must also clarify that the same degree of performance and production technique is evident throughout all Cirque Du Soleil highly polished performances.

Every element you would expect was present from the most elaborate aerial work (special mention is due of the British twins Kevin and Andrew Atherton) to the polished simplicity of the narrating characters and their humorous interaction with the audience making the experience not only awe inspiring but remarkably accessible and real; at no point is the Romany language a hindrance - a stroke of genius in my opinion allowing the visual feast to be interpreted by the individual as intended.

The comedy duo of Australian Steven Bishop and Canadian Mooky Cornish was a curious yet appreciated addition to the whole experience - a little light relief - the hapless pair crow-barring their way in without any tangible connection to what preceded or what followed - they were hilarious and a clever inclusion if only to remind that other than spectacle and sparkle Cirque Du Soleil remains a Circus family and these: our clowns.

I choose not to report in detail on the many and varied acts for two reasons; firstly I don't think it would be fair to put readers through my impassioned reminiscing and secondly the only way to "get it" is to see it! I highly recommend that at least one Cirque Du Soleil performance is on your list of things to do before your 100th birthday - now there's a milestone!