Synopsis Discover TOTEM, Cirque du Soleil's brand new touring show and a fascinating journey into the evolution of mankind. Inspired by founding myths, this spectacular new production traces the journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly.
With their 15th residency at the Royal Albert Hall, following last year's Varekai to mark the company's 25th anniversary, Cirque du Soleil this year present Robert Lepage's Totem which opened on 5 January and continues until 17 February 2011.
Drawing inspiration from many founding myths, the show uses's Cirque's trademark visual, acrobatic and circus styles to examine the evolution of the species - with a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure.
As one of Canada's most celebrated performing artists and creatives - Lepage has credits as a director, scenic artist, playwright, actor and film director - many critics appear to have had strong hopes the Québécoise would be able to reinvigorate the Cirque performance. Totem, however, does not seem to have assuaged their fears of the status quo, with frequent reference made to the production's commercial nature and many using the word "soulless" to describe proceedings.
"Microbes and monkeys, swamps and springboards, lasers and lotharios... are dressed up in a luminous wash of New Age claptrap and Third World rock music. The lighting is spectacular, the acrobatics tremendous. But even avant garde former wunderkind Robert Lepage... cannot dispel the pervasive sense of notorious naffness that always surrounds Cirque. That... hasn't stopped me turning up... to see something as good as the second act love duets here between a Canadian trapeze act and an Italian roller-skating Indian squire and his squaw. The costumes are exceptional ... The Darwinian evolution theme is pretty much dumped as it's suggested ... As an eyeball feast, the show will suffice. But it's significant that by far the most beautiful and seductive sequence – nothing to do with the circle of life or the mysteries of the universe — is provided by five Chinese ladies in temple outfits on unicycles doing synchronised juggling with tea bowls, flicking them from their feet first into their own head-pieces, then into the others' and finally in all directions without spilling a single one."
"Cirque du Soleil is often accused of a soulless efficiency. So it must have seemed a bright idea to get Robert Lepage... to bring his own brand of introspective wizardry to its latest production. In the end, however, he makes only a marginal difference ... The concept doesn't make much sense ... If you tried to impose a sequential pattern on what is basically a series of separate acts, you would probably conclude that humankind evolved from a troupe of juggling Oriental unicyclists ... The attempts at comedy are largely woeful ... The evening looks beautiful, thanks to a set by Carl Fillion and projections by Pedro Pires, in which a titled disc reflects either turbulent waves or shimmering waters. There is a stunning moment at the end when cast members float across the disc's apparently solid surface. But, since the show is supposedly about our progress from water to air, it seems to reverse the evolutionary cycle. Like much else in the evening, it is visually impressive without making logical sense."
"As predictable as a banker’s annual bonus, the Cirque Du Soleil gravy train pulls into the Albert Hall this month with the usual loud report on its publicity whistle ... Sadly, even Lepage’s unique style is crushed under the wheels of the Cirque’s marketing machine. It all looks and sounds fab, crammed as it is with acrobats, pounding music, gorgeous costumes and lavish staging. But there is something soulless at its supposedly radical, eco-conscious heart ... Scientologists may be taken in by the idea that monkeys consorting with aliens on parallel bars suggests the origins of life on Earth ... Gasp at the Chinese gymnasts on 10ft unicycles! Marvel at the muscular lovers writhing on the trapeze! Thrill as Pocahontas slips out of a kayak and spins with her big chief on roller-skates ... But the throbbing world muzak that serves as a backdrop to all the excitement is just aural filler ... I wound up feeling like I was stuck on the Heathrow Express, being tortured by jingles on BBC News 24 ... Didn’t the circus used to be a dodgy place that you could run away to? Frankly, I’d rather have Zippos. Come back Billy Smart, all is forgiven."
"It’s easy to admire Cirque du Soleil, much harder to love it. The circus acts are usually superb but there is something curiously soulless about this world-conquering Canadian organisation ... the show has become a licence to print money. Robert Lepage, one of the most imaginative and engaging theatre-makers working anywhere in the world today, is both writer and director of the new show ... Even Lepage hasn’t been able to rouse the company from its complacency ... There’s a genuine coup at the start when the ensemble is discovered performing amazing acrobatics on a gigantic turtle skeleton, and a neat re-creation of the famous image of evolution in which an ape is shown metamorphosing into man. But as far as narrative and depth go, that’s just about it. The lighting and projection effects that often seem to flood the stage with water are brilliant but otherwise you would never guess that a man as inventive as Lepage was at the helm .... Overall, there are surprisingly few moments that leave one in a state of slack-jawed wonder and disbelief ... Newcomers to the show will doubtless be more amazed than I was, but far from revolutionising Cirque du Soleil, Lepage’s production turns out to be just more of the same old same old."
"The Royal Albert Hall proves to be an excellent substitute for a big top as it plays host to Cirque du Soleil's now-customary January visit to London ... But while the piece is spectacularly vaunting, it also emerges as conceptually vacuous ... A glittering entity entirely encrusted in glass facets... dangles down from the heavens and provides the spark that drives the world into crazy action ... Each of the acts that follow is internally beautifully structured on a rising arc of daring. But the show as a whole lacks any urgent sense of dramatic progression – the randomness of its sequence of turns a bizarre flaw in a piece that aims to illustrate our evolutionary progression ... But Totem's handling of its Darwin-figure is embarrassing ... More than one kind of missing link here, I fear."
After touring around North America, Cirque du Soleil’s Totem is back at the Royal Albert Hall for a limited run.
Cirque are known for creating visually astounding shows that keep the audience on the edge of their seats - all the while hoping that a performer doesn’t seriously injure themselves - and loosely binding the tricks together with a tenuous plot.
Totem, which is directed by Robert LePage (his second collaboration with Cirque), continues very much in this vein; in fact, I still have no idea if there even was a plot. It’s advertised as telling the evolution of mankind, though I’m not quite sure what aliens - who appear at various moments throughout the show by descending from the heavens covered in thousands of mirror fragments - have to do with this.
Aside from the random proliferation of apes, clowns, scientists, and a strange red man with a light inside his hat, the acts are incredible. From a Native American woman being spun around by her neck from a man on roller stakes, to Chinese women kicking and catching bowls on their heads, whilst managing to ride around on tall unicycles, there's an eclectic mix of acrobatic skills on display.
For anyone that has seen a sit-down production of Cirque du Soleil (myself included), the staging is incomparable, but I was impressed with how they utilised the space, especially one element that is manipulated from a bridge to a speedboat using state of the act projections to heighten the realism.
- Peter Gibbons
NOTE: The following THREE STAR review dates from 6 January 2011, and this production's premiere at the Royal Albert Hall.
Microbes and monkeys, swamps and springboards, lasers and lotharios: welcome to the latest Cirque du Soleil pan-global mystical extravaganza in which basic circus thrills and skills are dressed up in a luminous wash of New Age claptrap and Third World rock music.
The lighting is spectacular, the acrobatics tremendous. But even avant garde former wunderkind Robert Lepage, directing his second show for his Canadian street-theatre-gone-crazy-commercial counterparts, cannot dispel the pervasive sense of notorious naffness that always surrounds Cirque.
That caveat, I have to say, hasn’t stopped me turning up pretty regularly over the past twenty years, if only to see something as good as the second act love duets here between a Canadian trapeze act and an Italian roller-skating Indian squire and his squaw.
The costumes are exceptional, from the minute we see a human, foetal glitter ball descend from the full height of the building and touch-start the primeval writhings in a bony, spongy adventure playground that looks like a huge cranium. Then, from the depths of the bamboo forest (where lurk the musicians) come... an Italian beach clown, a pair of lifeguards and a beautiful girl in pink who does gym exercises with hand rings.
The Darwinian evolution theme is pretty much dumped as it’s suggested, but that doesn’t stop old Darwin himself skirting the action, chumming up with a hairy ape and revealing himself to be a pretty good juggler in a huge plastic cone with coloured balls.
As an eyeball feast, the show will suffice. But it’s significant that by far the most beautiful and seductive sequence – nothing to do with the circle of life or the mysteries of the universe — is provided by five Chinese ladies in temple outfits on unicycles doing synchronised juggling with tea bowls, flicking them from their feet first into their own head-pieces, then into the others’ and finally in all directions without spilling a single one.
I saw TOTEM last night and took my new partner who has never had the fortune to experience Cirque before, I paid £160 for our tickets and was embarrassed about my previous ravings of how awesome it was ... the magic has gone ... where were the acrobats? Compared with Varekai it was like it waappeared half of the show was missing. Very dissapointed. - smudge75
03 Feb 11
The previous shows from Cirque I found completely magical. Full of beauty and precision that touched me deeply.Totem was very disappointing .In the previous shows the artists worked together ,often without time or space to bow, to create their magic, often with amazing sequences with people in the air as well as on the stage at the same time.The action in totem was much tamer and more ordinary and the artists often seemed more concerned to demonstrate and be applauded for their individual skills than to work together to create an incredible atmosphere and spectacle. Although there were some really beautiful moments I experienced the whole show as a far more of an ordinary dance and light show than the spectacular cirque de soleil I was hoping to see. Very disappointing. - Mara
28 Jan 11
Outstanding! Such a lot of snobbery now about Cirque du Soleil. Ignore. This is on of the best touring shows. - caiaphas
09 Jan 11
This year Cirque failed to meet expectations. The storyline is non-existant, lazy, unimaginative and poorly directed. The level of skill is not nearly as impressive in comparison to previous years and I would go as far as to say the first half was pretty dire. The music was the same as it always is, you'd think with a live band they might to experiment a bit more with other styles. Yes, the lighting was good, but if you're sat on the side you'll miss out. Luckily I didn't have to pay for a ticket, I suppose the worry is, if people pay £75 per head they'll be too afraid to tell others what they really think of it, leading to worse shows in the future. A real shame, I loved Cirque before this disappointing experience. - Cashers
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