The Circus Comes to Town

Cirque du Soleil’s new show, Totem, lands at the Royal Albert Hall for the first time in January. We take a sneak peak, and speak to the man responsible for making it all happen. If you think organising an event is tough, just imagine trying to get to grips with this…

Father Christmas isn’t the only person with a hectic schedule this December. Andy Peat might not have a sledge full of presents and directions to all the well-behaved children in the world, but he has a similarly complex logistical challenge. Andy, you see, is the man responsible for moving Cirque du Soleil’s brand-new show, Totem, into the Royal Albert Hall for its January residency.
Setting up any of Cirque’s 10 touring shows in a new venue requires a fiendish amount of planning, but a fresh show inevitably means a step into uncharted territory. Totem premiered in Cirque’s home city of Montreal only on 22 April this year, and its London debut is the first time it will be performed outside Cirque’s famous – and cavernous – blue-and-yellow big top, ‘Grand Chapiteau’. There’s a lot of kit to cram into a venue that isn’t noted for having a great deal of backstage space.
‘People ask how I get a Cirque show into the Hall,’ says Andy. ‘The answer is, carefully! A big rock’n’roll tour will need about four or five lorries for equipment. Totem needs 18.’ 

Totem isn’t just a big logistical operation for Andy; it’s big news for Cirque du Soleil’s loyal army of fans. In its quarter-century history Cirque has created just 28 shows, only four of which have come to the Albert Hall for the company’s annual residency (the last, Varekie, played for two years in succession).
‘We’ve never had a Cirque show first time out,’ says Jasper Hope, the Hall’s Director of Events. ‘Every other Cirque show has toured North America for a minimum of three, sometimes five, years before coming to Europe.’

An invitation to Totem, then, is going to be hard to turn down, particularly when you throw Royal Albert Hall’s hospitality packages into the equation. Cirque hasn’t taken any chances with Totem, bringing in the acclaimed film and theatre director Robert Lepage in the hope that he’ll recreate the success of his first collaboration, 2004’s Ka, which has a permanent residency at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Lepage has created a fast-moving, punchy show, based around a loose theme of human evolution,with no flab and the minimum clowning – a succession of old-school circus acts that range from the merely impressive to the absolutely mind-blowing (hat-tip to the bowl-flipping Chinese unicyclists), and who never outstay their welcome.
The action takes place on a set designed by Cirque regular Carl Fillion, the centrepiece of which is a huge hydraulic ‘Scorpion Bridge’ that, in one moment of genius, turns into a speedboat (you have to see it to get it). And it’s touches like this that create a lot of the head-scratching for Andy.
‘To the naked eye, Totem’s set is structurally smaller than other shows,’ he says, ‘but the devil’s in the detail. There’s an awful lot of projection, which is an issue as in the big top the audience is on a level eye-line, whereas in the Albert Hall they can be 40-50ft up.’

This aspect of the Hall – the fact that a trapeze act, say, will find themselves staring into the eyes of audience members sitting in the higher tiers, raises serious issues. A poorly positioned projector or spotlight (Totem requires over 300, plus four follow-spots) could momentarily blind an act at a critical moment, and Andy has no desire to be the man who sullies Cirque’s splat-free record. Everything is planned on computers in advance, but there is only so much that can be done in the transfer from the big top to the Hall. ‘It gives a whole new perspective to how the show looks,’ says Andy, ‘but we can’t vary the distances on stage as the artists have trained to them, so it all has to be millimetre perfect.’
And then there’s the ‘Scorpion Bridge’. ‘That’s a seriously grown-up piece of engineering,’ says Andy. ‘It weighs nine tonnes and to get it into the Hall presents a lot of challenges. We have to make sure it works as the rest of the set is built around it; everything springs from it.’
The moving-in begins four nights before Christmas, with structural work to reinforce the floor below the concert platform. ‘The Hall is robust but it’s 120 years old,’ says Andy. ‘We have to look after it.’ Sixty motors will be fitted to the cast-iron roof, but it can support 50 tonnes so there are no worries there. On Christmas Eve, a false floor will be laid to make the arena level with the concert platform, which can’t be moved, and then the show – all 18 lorries of it – will arrive on Boxing Day morning, from which point, Andy hopes, it will take about five days to unload all the kit and install everything in advance of the opening night on 6 January.
And everything means everything. Totem will travel with about 110 people (of whom 51 are cast and crew members) from 21 countries, including six children and two teachers, who will need a state-of-the-art schoolroom on site. ‘It’s a backstage village,’ says Andy. ‘A rock band might tour for 30 days, but Cirque has shows that have been going for 50 weeks a year for 10 years with the same cast.’
Space is at a premium, and an additional headache for Andy is that the performers’ vital training room – usually the Galleria above the amphitheatre – has been purloined by the Hall’s hospitality team to create a dramatic dining area for pre-show banquets and corporate events. Bad news for Andy, but great news for anyone looking to treat clients to a memorable night out in the depths of the British winter.

The Magic Factory

Cirque du Soleil’s Montreal headquarters turn out performers on an industrial scale. To truly appreciate the size and scope of the Cirque operation, you have to visit its Montreal HQ. Sadly, though, you can’t – Cirque doesn’t want tourists traipsing around the place. But Square Meal V&E was lucky enough to be given a sneaky tour earlier this year.
Firstly, it’s huge. The purpose-built complex in San-Michel, one of Montreal’s more ‘sensitive’ (read run-down) areas, is workplace to nearly 2,000 of Cirque’s 5,000 employees. There are 400 people working in the costume department alone, cutting their way through over 100km of fabric every year. The shoe workshop makes nearly 3,500 pairs annually (and keeps a cast of each performer’s feet), while the wig-makers have their work cut out just making casts of each performer’s head, so emergency replacements can be fashioned quickly for acts on tour.
As for the performers, Cirque has a bank of 40,000 potential artists to call upon, thanks to the team of 20 or so talent scouts who attend sporting events (more than half of performers have a sporting, rather than performing, background) and circus schools on the look-out for natural athletes with that ‘X factor’. During 2010, 600 wannabees will go through the four-to-six month basic training programme, held in Cirque’s three huge studios (Studio A is 1,425sq metres and 23 metres high), before returning home and waiting to be called back to prepare for a particular show, which could mean another six-plus months of specific training.
Accidents are thankfully rare says Mitch Head, one of Cirque’s 100 or so full-time instructors, but ankle and shoulder injuries due to straightforward over-use are common. As is simple, old-fashioned fear. ‘We’ll have kids coming from trampolining, say, and we’re asking them to do something completely different,’ he says, ‘and they sometimes get a block, of fear. If you’re on a Russian Swing and jumping 10 metres, common sense tells you it’s not safe. The saying goes, if you’re not scared, you’re stupid. We have a performance psychologist, Jean-François Ménard, who works hand-in-hand with the artists using one-on-one visualisation techniques.’
The most important full-time Cirque employee, however, has to be Madame Zazou, the office clown, who wanders the building injecting more fun, if it were needed, into the working day and reminding everyone that however big Cirque has become, it’s still a circus at heart.

Totem’s top acts

Turtle bars
Totem opens with ‘frogs’ hurling themselves around on a set of parallel bars in the centre of a giant turtleshell contraption. With up to three artists on the bars at any one time, collisions seem inevitable…

Foot juggling
One of the stand-out segments sees two ‘Crystal Ladies’ emerge from the ‘fiery bowels of the earth’ (in actual fact they’re from Belarus) and spin squares of glittering fabric on hands and feet. It might not be dangerous, but by God it’s impressive. 

Trapeze duo
Two ‘lovebirds’ perched on a fixed trapeze far above the stage intertwine their bodies, teasing and seducing each other and making the ladies in the audience go ‘Ah…’

Perches
Ten businessmen, who clearly dress at the fetishists’ equivalent of Austin Reed, stride on stage and proceed to give a lesson in teamwork, but with 10-metre duraluminum poles instead of PowerPoint. Watch out for the guy with the ’tache – he starts off slowly but saves the plum role for himself.

Rings trio
You’ll have to look long and hard for three finer examples of the male physique. Shame one’s a girl. These high-wire artists put on a virtuoso display, though you’ll be too busy admiring their guns to notice. Gentlemen, if you’ve come with a special lady, cover her eyes lest she draws unfortunate comparisons.

Roller-skates
At some point we’ve always wanted to bash our spouse’s skull in. Roller-skater Massimilano Medino comes close to doing
it every night, as he throws real-life wife Denise around a tiny circular platform. An inch out of kilter and Denise will become
a very ex-wife.

Russian bars
Jaws drop when the ‘Cosmonauts’ walk on stage. Surely it’s not… It can’t be… But, yes – there’s a fat bloke on stage. He’s there
for a reason – his immense strength. Just as well, when he has to support a couple of back-flipping acrobats balanced on a bar.

Unicyclists
The act you’ll be telling your friends about. Five tiny girls on very tall unicycles kick stainless-steel bowls at each other and, without using any hands, catch them on their heads, in neat stacks. Your mind will boggle and boggle again as you think about how long it took to practise this one.

The Scientist
A bearded scientist (aided and abetted by a chimp assistant), juggles glowing spheres in an inverted perspex cone, adding sphere after sphere until he’s standing in the centre of a swirling storm of light.

Hoop dancer
This Amero-Indian-style dancer can do things with hoops that’ll leave you gasping. Not someone to challenge to a dance-off.

Cirque at the Royal Albert Hall

January isn’t a great month for corporate hospitality, which makes Cirque’s arrival all the more welcome

Galleria Dinner Box Package
Private box for 8 or 12 / Welcome glass of Champagne on arrival / Pre-show two-course dinner with quality wines in the Totem-themed Galleria / Welcome drink at the start of the show / Personal box waiter / Dessert and coffee served in the interval / One souvenir programme per guest / Tapis Rouge gift.
Grand Tier Box for 12: £4,080+VAT
Loggia Box for 8: £2,720+VAT

Champagne Box Package
Private box for 4, 8 or 12 guests / Half bottle of Champagne per person, orange juice and mineral water / Cold finger buffet in-box / Hot bowl food served during the interval, in the box / Personal box waiter / One souvenir programme per guest / Tapis Rouge gift.
Grand Tier Box for 12: £3,300+VAT
Loggia Box for 8: £2,200+VAT
Second Tier Box for 4: £1,100+VAT

VIP ‘Tapis Rouge’ Package

Afternoon
Central Stall seat for the afternoon show / Pre-show one-hour standing reception with a selection of wraps, savoury canapés and hot bowl food / Sweet canapés during the interval / Bucks fizz, tea and coffee, soft drinks and mineral water / One souvenir programme per guest / Tapis Rouge gift.

Evening
As above, but with red and white wine and beer.

Adult £185 per person incl VAT weekdays* (Tues-Thurs); £195 weekends
Children (under 12s) £129.50 incl VAT week days; £136.50 weekends
* Weekdays, minimum 20 people. Exclusive rooms on request (room hire will be charged)

For box packages, contact Royal Albert Hall . To book VIP Tapis Rouge Packages, or for any other special requests, contact Ian Fyfe at Cirque tel: 020 7849 3484

Cirque du Soleil’s Totem is at the Royal Albert Hall for seven weeks from 6 January 2011.