★★★★★
Outside the wind is blowing warm(ish) Spring rain in alternate sheets and drizzle. But underneath the big top(s) for the next two hours, we’re transported to another world entirely.
Conceived in 2007 just before social media exploded by writer and director David Shiner, under the creative direction of Serge Roy, the world of Cirque du Soleil KOOZA offers somewhat of a Cirque origin story, showcasing acrobatic showstoppers and grounding them with a clowning tradition incorporating slapstick and mime.
In traditional style, clowns warm up the crowd with hijinks, blasting popcorn everywhere until everyone is ducking for cover, or grinning with anticipation. I’m concerned. Maybe I’m seated a little too close to the front?
The performance opens on The Innocent (a beguiling Alexandr Yudintsev), dressed in a downy beige and white onesie, flying a similarly toned kite. His drab, melancholy world is interrupted by a delivery revealed as a large box or treasure chest, from which blasts the sharp-suited Trickster (a mischievously grinning, commanding Mitch Wynter).
The Innocent is immediately transported to the surreal world of KOOZA – created by the Trickster, populated with exotica, and governed by seeming chaos.
The audience is encouraged to see itself in The Innocent, discovering colourful worlds beyond social media. Worlds of the imagination and possibility, symbolised in the varied traditional circus acts and in the crazy comic characters The Innocent meets.
The production encourages us to understand how we can hold seeming contradictions in balance. It’s a thin but serviceable framing narrative. In any event, the night is also about the pleasure of shock-and-awe spectacle. And clowning.
Enter the mad King (an irrepressible Mark Gindick), who by definition needs some fools who are madder than himself. His two accomplices, played by Miguel Berlanga Madrono and Duncan Cameron, exuberantly mime and pratfall their way through the evening.
The clowning is clever, though it’s perhaps over-indulged. The front row becomes very interactive. Just ask the poor sod (a Sharks rugby league legend) who is dragged not too reluctantly on stage for some extended comedy interplay. (It’s a lonngg way from The Shire, Paul, but well done.)
If the pratfalling clowns are the human connective tissue of the production, the acrobatic set-pieces are simply otherworldly. The Trickster’s arrival in an explosive jack-in-the-box trick is thematically clever and a foregrounding of the thrills to come.
Did I say thrills? I mean white-knuckle, gob-smacking aerial acrobatics and incredibly difficult feats of strength and control. From my seat, the vertical perspective was dizzying. Honestly, I felt like a kid again; it is seriously heart-in-mouth stuff.
The acts are all stunning in their own way, each a riff on circus history, requiring specific skills and performed brilliantly. To mention just three acts seems unfair to the others, but..
The Wheel of Death (Jimmy Ibarra Zapata and William Torres Patino) is utterly terrifying. Victor Levoshuk’s Chair Balancing is a staggering exhibition of precision muscle control and strength. And the Contortionists (Sender Enkhtur, Ninjin Altankhuyag, Sunderiya Jargalsaikhanare) are sinuously beautiful to watch.
Okay, four: Dmytro Dudnyk and Anastasiia Shkandybina on the unicycle are a delightfully romantic nod to old-school circus.
Enhancing everything, Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt’s costuming is superb. From suits of ‘armour’ recalling the terracotta armies of Qin Shi Huang, through a WWE meets Mad Max aesthetic in the Wheel of Death, and the New Orleans Day of the Dead-inspired feathers and skeleton suits, it’s a visual storytelling delight.
Stéphane Roy’s set is a stunning design that melds clever engineering with artistic wizardry. Initially suggesting a European town square, the stage becomes a performance space of circus ring dimensions overseen by a massive moving tower – the Bataclan – that morphs like cut-outs in a pop-up children’s book.
The Bataclan also houses a live band and singers, playing Jean-François Côté’s evocative original score. The production is as highly professional as you would expect. Sound cues are never missed, and choreography by Clarence Ford is tight and precise.
Melding Eastern design elements, world-class gymnastic skill and North American vaudeville in a thrilling production, Cirque du Soleil KOOZA is a genuine 5-star experience not to be missed.
Cirque du Soleil KOOZA runs to 3 January 2027 in Sydney under the Big Top at the Entertainment Quarter .
Plan ahead by visiting the KOOZA interactive program.
Tickets are available here.
Website: https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/kooza
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/kooza.cirquedusoleil/
Photo credits: Matt Beard & Bernard Letendre
Watch the trailer here:
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