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Last weekend, my sister asked me along to see a new circus/art stage show at the Peacock Theatre called Traces presented by a French-Canadian based troupe of four guys and a girl. The performance is best described as a fusion of different performance styles encompassing everything from dance, various circus skills, some acting and comedic styles. Everything had clever touches including the welcome note at the start and the intermission joking about the things that you could do that most other theatres would prohibit.

I was particularly impressed by their use of less conventional circus objects including basketballs and skateboards to create some visually stunning tricks. Considering that the stage wasn’t that big, and there were five constantly moving bodies, it’s obvious they’d rehearsed a great deal to put on a show that truly impressed. Not everything worked out well including their mock simulation of a “big brother”-like vote off, but for a couple of hours it was still worth the money we paid for it.

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It’s easy to find a bunch of Australians in Calgary – normally all you have to do is go up to the ski hills in Banff and Lake Louise. It’s much more difficult trying to find a bunch of Aussies perform an astonishing 61 circus acts in 60 minutes. Fortunately, Circa and its four performers not only manage to pull it off without the potential droll, but they manage to make it a blast for everyone in the audience. Tonight I was lucky enough to see them on the opening night with the folks from Theatre Junction at The Grand. Their first night wasn’t a completely full house, although the the standing ovation at the end demonstrated exactly how much value everyone received for the price of their ticket.

To say that the performers, made up of one lady and three gentlemen, are charismatic would be an understatement. Their witty commentary and perfect timing takes you on a journey through the different circus acts where you literally laugh, cry and cringe your way through some mind-bending physical feats. With only just the four of them, they cover pretty much all types of circus acts including juggling, tumbling, acrobatics, slapstick, magic, and some more unique combinations involving some modern props like a fitness ball.

Although on first thought, an hour isn’t really a long time for a show, I’m just amazed at how energised the entire hour felt and with the breadth of the performance, I’m sure that everyone walked out of there extremely satisfied. Of course with so much pressure on the performers, some of the acts didn’t quite go according to plan and given their format, you at least knew that particular act would draw to a close very quickly.

Definitely go and see these guys, if for nothing else but a light hearted evening. It’s an hour of your life you’ll definitely appreciate.

TheKua.com Rating: 9 out of 10

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Of all the musicals I’ve seen, I must rate the latest one showing at the Palladium as the best. Everything from the cast, the costumes, the full orchestra, set designs and succinctness add to its wonderful performance. Lasting about two and half hours including the intermission, I’m surprised that it still managed to fit in all the songs that I could remember (and then some).

For something that’s so widely known, it’s very hard not to compare it to the movie. The performers don’t really look the same, although they still put on the same amazing performance. I’m also glad that they cut scenes that repeat a number of songs, turning the four hour epic I seem to remember the movie taking into something a little bit more manageable on a school night. The original movie is amazing in its own way, and this stage production takes it to the same level in a slightly different way.

The scenes changes probably amazed me the most, with the basic stage transformed into the alps, outside gardens, and the abbey through a combination of floating stages, circular platforms and lots of props dropping from the ceiling. It all occurred so seamlessly that they were hardly noticeable.

TheKua.com Rating: 9 out of 10

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A new comedy act recently opened on the West End starring Ralph Fiennes and I was lucky enough to score a preview ticket on this Saturday just gone. As expected, it was a full house and so the laughter filled the entire theatre. The play, best described as a bit of a black comedy involves four actors and actresses on a very simple set and focused around the story of their children getting into a fight and all the craziness that ensues to resolve it.

Based on some of the topics covered and the amount of swearing, the writer obviously wrote this script relatively recently and at least seems to have some French origins although it also includes plenty of the classic understated British humour, focused on many suggestive hints and plenty of sarcastic comments.

We had perfectly centred seats that was close enough to see some of the very visual and physical parts of the comedy theatre without being too close to be covered by it (you have to go and see it to know what I mean). I’d highly recommend any people who have a sense of humour (or at least appreciate comedy) to go and see this if you’re seeing any West End show.

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I have no idea what made me agree to see the musical Cabaret – it could have been the discount tickets combined with not really knowing much about the story. I was expecting the worst, and I guess it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. Very disappointed with the last real west end musical I saw, I left the show probably best described as slightly ambivalent.

We had excellent seats and it’d been the closest I’d been to a stage yet at only three rows away from the front. Whether or not it’s good or bad, we could see everyone’s face in so much detail that we could, to much of our amusement, see the spit fly into the audience as they annunciated their words as much as possible. Fortunately they limited their sharing with the audience to the front row.

I guess the performers to Cabaret must be comfortable with each other with several scenes best described as, how do I put it, rather raunchy in either the things they did or the things they wore (and sometimes what they didn’t wear). The story is set between the 1930s and 1940s and centres around an American guy and English woman in the heart of Berlin. One of the other actors, best known from Home and Away plays a very poor German, his accent slipping into a blend that sounded almost Russian at times and the other probably most well known celebrity, Julian Clary who plays the narrator, surprisingly good at his role.

Whilst I wouldn’t recommend this musical for everyone, I guess some people would find the story entertaining, or at least recognise some of the songs that made this musical famous.

Thekua.com Rating: 5 out of 10

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Easily the most well known and creative circus acts in the world, I saw Cirque du Soleil’s latest show in the nosebleed section of Royal Albert Hall on Friday. Although being in a restricted view and seated literally right at the back, the show still managed to impress me on most accounts. Compared to their show, Ka, that I saw in Las Vegas, I have to admit I was slightly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong – the circus acts are all amazing, the costumes and music spectacular, I just don’t think it was as good as Ka.

Perhaps it was because they didn’t have the ticket people in character welcoming you into the theatre, they didn’t have people in the audience entertaining while everyone was getting seated, and I still couldn’t really work out what exactly the story was until I read their website.

The clown acts were probably the most painful out of the full show. I think my favourite acts were definitely the amazing juggler and the person who did an amazing routine on crutches alone.

I’d still highly recommend the show to everyone, especially those who’d never seen one before.

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9+ hours of movies, three huge Tolkein books compressed into a West End production? Indeed it’s possible and the current show is very well done as well. Last Thursday I managed to see the latest book, turned movie, turned stage production based on JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. This show is set in three very compressed, though well timed acts, and broken up by two intermissions. It’s filled with entertaining characters, vivid costumes, finished off with a fantastic assortment of sets and visual effects. I especially liked the how-do-they-do-fly-and-glow fireflies at the start and the disapperance of Bilbo Baggins.

Most of the characters were well done though the Dutch-sounding Saruman and the Scottish Boromir sounded out of place on stage. The hobbits really looked the part – even though I’m sure they’re people of normal height, they somehow looked much shorter and stockier in their roles. Gollum, with the hard task of the voice and contortionist requirements did an amazing job playing his role. The Ents towered perfectly over everyone and though the orcs reminded me more of the hyenas out of The Lion King more than anything, still did an okay job.

A fantastic show that you have to see before it ends. It’s not like the books or the movie and is definitely a theatre experience worth seeing.

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The latest musical showing at The Savoy Theatre on the Strand is the apparently popular Porgy and Bess production. It’s set in the 1930s and revolves around the life of a group of African Americans, and the strange relationship that develops between the cripple and beggar, Porgy and wild seductress Bess after the murder of one of the town folk. From a story point of view, it shows the hardship of the poor, and something that I think is a rather tragic story all up.

Like most West End musicals, even on a Tuesday evening, the theatre was almost full. The audience was composed of much older people than many other West End shows I’ve been to, probably because I don’t think Porgy and Bess appeals to a much younger crowd. The music is entertaining, with a couple of songs that I’d recognised although I started to find them slightly monotonous towards the end.

I can’t recommend this show for everyone although it is something a little bit different.

TheKua.Com Rating: 6.5 out 10

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