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4 hours ago
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There’s a procession passing through the Royal Albert Hall. It’s a Fellini-esque scene featuring a troupe of classic circus characters – ringmaster, pierrot, harlequin – with mournful trombones, clashed cymbals and chattering voices in Italian, French and a smattering of English. It is the funeral of a clown, Mauro (Stéphane Gentilini), and he’s here to watch it too, from his bed on a stage that cuts through the centre of the hall – the audience either side – giving each section an almost proscenium experience.
This show, originally made in 2005 and remounted in 2018, has everything you expect from Cirque du Soleil: world-class acrobatics, whimsical romanticism, scale and spectacle, “Ooh!” and “Ah!”, slightly disappointing comedy, and a nonchalant attitude to narrative. Mauro’s funeral and reminiscences are soon brushed aside to make way for the acts parading across the stage and in the air. Corteo makes great use of the height of the ceiling, with angels floating on high, swooping acrobats in straps, literal swinging from the chandeliers, and a balloon-based surprise à la the movie Up.
Cirque du Soleil make slick productions that pretend a more handmade quality. The music roams across different countries and ages, being amorphously evocative – albeit with nothing so inspirational as a hummable melody. The quality of the acts is unarguable. Beds turned into trampolines are a highlight: a kids’ dream writ large, performers bouncing and tumbling with giddy joy. Its buoyancy is infectious. There is plenty of show-stopping, high-risk, high-reward action, multiplied for extra effect: why have the “base” acrobat of one Russian cradle duo hurling the “flyer” up to the roof when you could have four at once? Why have one performer swinging in circles around a horizontal bar (the kind you get in men’s gymnastics), when you could have half a dozen, all synchronised?
There are (formerly) Olympic-level gymnasts here. With this company you get some of the most skilled performers in the industry – check out Stephanie Waltman, clinging coolly to the hanging pole by what looks like just her toes. It is artful and accessible entertainment, always impressive. It’s just a shame the funeral setup is merely a framing device rather than a source of dramatic oomph.
