Cirque Dreams

EASY READER
Redondo Beach, California
DECEMBER 2004

THEATER REVIEW

Cirque Dreams

By DEANNA ALISA ABLESER
Easy Reader

CLOSBC, the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, takes yet another bold risk with its production of Neil Goldberg’s Cirque Dreams, a European cirque style show.

Cirque Dreams is exactly as the title suggests, a dreamy theatrical piece that highlights amazing circus acts. There is a slight plot; a Conjurer gets brought into a dream world and meets person after person with unusual talents. Sometimes the Conjurer is able to play along with the people he meets and sometimes his attempts are so feeble that he must simply exist as an “other world” spectator. Each circus act has a dreamy/nightmarish aspect to it and the Conjurer must tread with care in his attempts. Finally, at the end, the Conjurer wakes up and his own dreamy, nightmarish reality exists yet again.

The actual circus acts are top-notch. The company attempts it all: Contortion, Flying Trapeze, Feats of Pure Strength and Flexibility, Balancing and Object Manipulation, and much more, and they do it with amazing skill, talent, and passion. The entire company exudes quality, but special note must be paid to Benjamin Antipuna (Conjurer), Joseph Ross (Clock Roller), and Sergey Parshin (Strength Spirit), Sergei Slavski (Strength Spirit), and Alexander Tolstikov (Strength Spirit). The only weak part of the company lies in a character that should have really carried the show and made it exceptionally strong. Instead, Luly’s (Magical Muse) energies, talents, and performance skills on stage detracted from the pure beauty of the circus acts. Her forced and flat singing depleted focus as opposed to her counterpart, Benjamin Antipuna, whose focus and passion only brought more beauty and passionate tension to the acts.

The show itself is definitely its own genre, a combination of theatre, mime, and circus that is intertwined by an unusually eerie theme. It’s not circus, it’s not theatre, it’s not mime…. it’s a mishmash of all three art forms with eeriness pervading all three. It’s a beautiful art form, but not necessarily something that resonates with a “cookie-cutter” audience. It’s a show that can be a bit scary for younger children and a bit too “out there” for audiences expecting classic musical theatre, but it definitely is an experience that opens up the eyes, hearts, and minds of all who watch it. The audience doesn’t just sit back and be entertained…. they become the experience and learn and grow from it.

Audience interaction is a definite part of the show. From the first moment of the show, audience members are brought onto the stage and into the dream reality. From that point on, it’s freeform chaos. Audience members are flipped, prodded, turned into a makeshift orchestra, and just used as pure human fodder for the rest of us lucky enough to escape being picked.

Direction and choreography by Neil Goldberg definitely supports the genre and brings the piece to a life of its own. Scenic design and technical direction by Christopher Beyries are beautifully executed, as are the wardrobes (Santiago Rojo and Marcello Boza), sound (Frank Snipes), and original music (Keith Heffner).

So, South Bay residents, it’s time to leave your nice old comfort zone and head on down for this show. Keep an open mind, take a deep breath, and allow yourself to be transported into the world of fantastical journeys. You never know where you might end up!

Cirque Dreams will be performed through Sunday, Dec. 19 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 135 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. Tickets, $32.50 to $52.50. Call (310) 372-4477. ER