Avant-garde circus is on the rise in the UK as this fascinating show by Sugar Beast Circus – the last work to be presented as part of this year’s London International Mime Festival – ably demonstrates.
Training institutions such as the Circus Space in East London are producing talented new performers year after year, who are helping shape the contemporary theatre landscape. Many of the larger theatrical institutions are absorbing circus methods into their work and, in turn, circus practitioners are making increasing use of different dramaturgical techniques and ideas in what has traditionally been a non-narrative art form. {Event (Dimension):} is a case in point. It’s not enough now just to showcase the physical abilities of the performers, no matter how skilled they are: audiences are now also seeking a new intellectual edge.
Geneva Foster-Gluck’s Sugar Beast Circus is in many ways an ideal candidate for inclusion in the LIMF. Formed in 2007, the company aims to break down barriers between theatre, big top and live art. Their latest work, {Event (Dimension):}, is the result of a collaboration with quantum physicists. The production takes as its inspiration the fact that particles behave differently when they are being observed – as proved by the double-split experiment – and attempts to realise this theory on the stage.
In order to achieve this the audience are divided into two groups at the start of the show and labelled either a 1 or 0; they are then lead through the theatre’s musty backstage area to their seats by a white-coated attendant. The auditorium has been similarly split, with the result that the two groups are each able to watch a separate performance (although accompanied by the same music) while not seeing anything of each other. After the conclusion of the thirty-minute performance, the audience are again led around the theatre to take their seats in the opposite area and watch the production again, this time from the other side.
On the first side the audience are presented with a show composed mostly of live-animation, as designed by Jean-Christophe Nicolas. Inspired by ‘kitsch sci-fi films and analogue computer graphics’, these animations meditate on the nature of observation and action, with the masked figures of some of the performers occasionally visible behind the projected images. In the re-play the audience get a proper look at the performers, who are costumed in 50s-style majorette outfits and blond curly wigs. This is where the piece comes slightly undone: the choreography is not always tight enough, and the range of circus skills shown not particularly varied. The design of the piece is beautifully considered and the production contains some truly joyous moments, particularly when the performers’ gestures suddenly converge with the soundtrack, but in general the inventive concept is not fully exploited.