The clock that hangs over the stage reads 11.10pm. The Seeker, a round man in a white lab coat, his hair pulled upward like the tip of a paintbrush, scuttles around the stage. Two robots, Kurios Winch and Kurios Plunger, motor around, helping him put the finishing touches on, or clean up, or finish… something. He fervently wants something. In a steampunk workshop that is neither now nor then the clock strikes 11.11pm. Make a wish and enter a magical world of unimaginable, brain-tingling curiosities.
Cirque du Soleil’s Kurios keeps the promise of its byline: reality is relative. Writer and director Michel Laprise is a product of the Cirque Du Soleil family, and fittingly the show gets to the very heart of the production company’s ethos. Possibility is a state of mind – we are incurably curious; imagination is a song to be sung again and again. Every element conspires to create something that you’ll want to see again and again. The direction, design, and performance are without fault; they are spellbinding.
Four contortionists dressed as electric eels make you rethink which way your joints are meant to move. An aviator performs feats of balance while on a trapeze sending tingles to your toes. An ensemble act on a suspended trampoline ignite new ideas of cooperation, grace, and humour all at once. A touching live-feed tells a story of success and the love of a hand dressed in a hat. There aren’t enough words to write about every performer, but each and every one has devoted their life to their skills, and reify the idiom ‘shoot for the stars.’ This troupe shows how fun it is once you’re up there.
Kurios’ focus on narrative enthrals the audience. The stage is fitted out as an inspiring retrofuture by Stéphane Roy, the set and props designer. Roy’s design wizardry is combined with Philippe Guillotel’s insane costumes. An industrial businessman, Microcosmos, carries a veritable little house on his front. The Seeker’s robots make us think of a post-apocalyptic hybrid of insect and pre-industrial mechanics, even as we blush at how cute they are. The aesthetic that Roy and Guillotel’s costumes, props and set create would be enough to sit and watch for hour after hour.
Real magic is woven with original musical composition and energetic band. Bob & Bill, and Raphaël Beau are the composers and musical directors. The range emulates the show’s dynamism: soft, subtle, and tense to big and climactic; jazzy and wonky to crowd-pleasers to clap along to – the music is constantly enlivening, facilitating both the narrative and the ups and downs of the phenomenal acrobatics.
The clock strikes 11.12pm. Is it over? Was it just a dream? A memory? See Kurios and the magic will live on.
