Cirque Ici

Review in Issue 9-3 | Autumn 1997

Johann Le Guillerm and four musicians, (Phillipe Gilbert, Tira Skamby Madsen, Patrick Sapin, and Saxi) present Cirque Ici in a tent. The spectacle is a mixture of high level circus techniques, superb live music and weird and wonderful sculptures that magically traverse the stage. Le Guillerm aspires to put the 'poetry of simplicity’ into his show and he certainly manages to, using everyday objects and manipulating them with ease and skill.

For instance, he takes a piece of paper and folds it carefully into an aeroplane then, using plate juggling moves, he passes the plane from one crooked elbow to the other. He also plays with a wet dish cloth and transforms this ordinary object into a thing of beauty. The tightrope routine was excellent, all the normal tricks one would expect, and well executed with additional innovative feats. There were several mechanical objects that moved across the stage somehow, the most fun being a six-legged inflatable which expanded showering the audience with confetti. Four musicians played a variety of acoustic instruments and supported Le Guillerm well.

However, some of the routines were far too long, most notably where he balanced on glass bottles and crossed the entire stage. Because of the lack of characterisation there was also a lack of audience engagement and Le Guillerm appeared at times to be nervous and apologetic. Nevertheless Cirque Ici is certainly worth seeing for the music and high level of circus techniques.

Artforms
Presenting Artists
Presenting Festival
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Jun 1997

This article in the magazine

Issue 9-3
p. 23