Totem

Not exactly Applied Theatre-related, but just need a quick chance to rave about Totem by Cirque du Soleil, directed by Robert Lepage, which I saw on Sunday night as a belated birthday present from my dad and his wife.

I've been a big Lepage fan for years, ever since I saw The Dragons' Trilogy when I was at sixth form, and had never seen Cirque du Soleil before and always wanted to, so Totem looked perfect.

The multi-talented Mr Robert Lepage

And it was! Mind-blowing. In fact, I kept realising I was holding my breath and grabbing the edge of my seat during the various acts - partly because despite intellectually knowing that they probably weren't going to fall and die (they hadn't so far), I kept waiting for something to go wrong.

It made me realise: a) they must have all trusted each other A LOT; b) they must have trusted themselves A LOT; c) sometimes you do have to see something to believe it; d) beauty is under-rated; e) tree-frogs are under-rated; f) I can't even juggle and have little chance of successfully running away with the circus. It is a sad thing. I'm sure I realised some other even more profound things - the kind of profundity that can only be contemplated in the wake of beautiful art, but turns to ghosts and shadows when the curtain goes down - but I'm not sure what they were. All I know is that when I shut my eyes to go to sleep a couple of hours later, the evolution of the world was dancing around in leotards and leaping between trapezes on the inside of my eyelids.

It was magic. 

Maybe I'll practice my juggling. I can almost do two balls now...