Cirque du Soleil returns to Albert Hall with new touring show Kooza

Opening on 8 January 2013 (previews from 5 January) for a limited engagement, the new show is billed as “a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil, combining two circus traditions – acrobatic performance and the art of clowning”.

Kooza premiered in April 2007 and has since played to nearly four million people in North America and Japan. London will be the first destination of the show’s 2013 European tour.

Written and directed by David Shiner, the show “highlights the physical demands of human performance in all its
splendor and fragility, presented in a colorful mélange that emphasizes
bold slapstick humor”.

The word Kooza is inspired by the Sanskrit word “koza,” which means “box,” “chest” or “treasure,” and was chosen because one of the underlying concepts of the
production is the idea of a “circus in a box.”

“Kooza is about human connection and the world of duality, good and
bad,” Shiner said. “The tone is fun and funny, light and open. The show
doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s very much about ideas, too.
As it evolves we are exploring concepts such as fear, identity,
recognition and power.”

Among the showpiece acts is an “unprecedented approach” to the High Wire and a
“breathtaking” Wheel of Death – an act that Cirque du Soleil has never
before presented under the big top.

Tickets for Kooza are released for sale today (10 September 2012).