The call of the wild seduces the senses in “Echo.”
The latest surreal fantasia from the French Canadian circus phenome, Cirque du Soleil, delights the eye, as expected, but also stirs the soul with a dreamlike pageant that evokes the splendors of the natural world.
A 23-foot cube has landed under the iconic blue-and-white big top. “Echo” centers on a colossal high-tech box around which a phalanx of acrobats vault, twist and fly. At first the monolithic structure, resplendent with gauzy projections, suggests an iceberg slowly thawing, revealing remnants of the primordial world, beautiful feral creatures that leap and prowl. Later the box seems like a cage, a digital trap confining the animal inhabitants of the planet. Within this abstract framing, the troupe’s renowned gymnastic ingenuity soars.
Created by multiple directors, “Echo” is both minimalist and intricate, a study in contrasts. One of the most deeply conceptual pieces since “Quidam,” “Echo” fuses a sense of existential longing with the usual jaw-dropping athleticism. That sharp artistic edge is what elevates “Echo” from mere entertainment. While the piece is not exactly seamless and the narrative can certainly be elusive, “Echo” makes you think as well as feel, wonder as well as smile.
Of course you can always eschew the themes and just go with the thrills.
The term hair-raising takes on new meaning as two performers contort their bodies high above the stage, connected only by their coiffures.
Muscles ripple as two men cavort along the slack wire within the cube. A crew of acrobats flip back and forth from see-saw to see-saw. A juggler defies expectations.
Best of all, if you ask my kiddo, the clowns in this spectacle were laugh-out-loud funny, vaudevillian masters of the slapstick arts. The giggles and guffaws they provoked alone were worth the price of admission for the 14-year-old cohort. The stacking cardboard box routine was absolutely hysterical.
For me, however, a puppet stole the show. A gigantic red man in a bowler hat, this futuristic marionette gives shades of “King Kong” and Burning Man as he cradles a girl in his mammoth hand, his lifelike eyes blinking, as if he can’t believe his eyes. Neither can we.
Contact Karen D’Souza at [email protected].
‘ECHO’
Presented by Cirque du Soleil
When & where: Through May 11 at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds; at Oracle Park, San Francisco, Nov. 20-Dec. 21
Running time: two hours 5 minutes, one intermission
Tickets: $76-$359; www.cirquedusoleil.com
