Whenever I am not pretending to be Artistic Director of The Acting Corps, sometimes I pretend I am an audience member and look for opportunities to be entertained, like everyone else. So the other night, in the mood for something completely different, I say why not, and wind up at the new Cirque Du Soleil extravaganza – IRIS, at the Kodak Theater.
I say to myself, this HAS to be good. First of all, it’s Cirque Du Soleil, and we know these people are true acrobats with a flair for the mysterious and the exotic. Then, this is all happening at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood where The Oscars are held, and THEN, the show is called IRIS, like the muscle around the pupil, but also like the cinematic effect. And last but not least, how can it miss with the seats being so expensive?
Oh well. You already see where this is headed and I won’t do a thing to pretend otherwise. We’ll start with the acting. What acting? Exactly. These producers have the budget to get the best clowns in the world, for example, but instead they hire tired clowns who just don’t care, clowns who make the appropriate faces and tell the over-rehearsed jokes, risk very little, and basically just call it in.
As to the rest of the extravaganza, it’s like this: some flying around, some contortionist behavior, some tribal costumes, lots of jumping about, and then the curtain comes down and thank you very much. We’re glad that you came and that you’re so impressed, (if you’re not your date certainly must be) so make sure to tell your friends what an AMAZING time was had by all. But what just happened, you ask yourself. And why are you feeling ripped off? You came in ready to be entertained like a little kid, and instead of giving you the goods, they gave you candy made of plastic, sprinkled with artificial sweetener. And then they made you feel foolish for wanting something different.
My point is, and perhaps I’m being naïve, I go to these places to have an EMOTIONAL experience, not an intellectual one. While seeing 9 people vertically stacked on top of each other may say to my intellect that this is worthwhile, the kid in me says “Yes, I feel some sympathy for the 9 acrobats in extremis, but this isn’t that much fun to watch.”
To me, the bold display of physical achievement alone is not suitable for the stage. I need drama, and by that I mean I need conflict and I need to NOT know the outcome. Yes, IRIS is a little scary because the athletes might fall, but if they do they’re secured by wires and harnesses, and so on. Not that I would want them to work without a net of some kind, that is not my cup of tea, but I would like to see some danger up there where we don’t know what happens next. And I can’t experience that danger without the performers putting themselves in a place of where they too experience the danger of not knowing what happens next.
In conclusion, it may be best for me to stay away from all athletic spectacles. Or only attend ones like the Olympics, where an entire nation’s pride is on the line, and where every athlete has a story, and you know how everyone is doing because they keep score.
