Mediocre skills and a terrible concept do not make for a fun night at the circus.
In HAUS of YOLO, which was created by a New Zealand company called The Dust Palace, four acrobats venture into the world of fast fashion — very fast: the acrobats launch the show in G-stings and pasties and stitch their costumes onstage as they go.
But the garments they create are far from impressive, so there’s no tension and no payoff in any of this. Made from shiny, stretchy material, these outfits are basic: one piece is just a loose tube with armholes. (The performers make a wan joke of this, but that’s no excuse. None of the other outfits are much better.)
These costumes have nothing to do with high fashion and the text doesn’t either: it includes glancing references to Anna Wintour and Alexander McQueen, but that’s just namedropping. There’s no substance anywhere and no narrative worth following, just some nonsense about “meat puppets”/models/acrobats who need to put together a collection for Vanity Fair. As if.
I understand that HAUS of YOLO changes casts regularly. In the quartet I saw, only one member, Jaine Mieka, provoked thrills. In its complexity and the beauty of its lines, Mieka’s work on the silks (long strips of fabric used in aerial acts) was the highlight of the show for me. She also performs a wonderfully adept routine with hoops. It features a fixed-point technique that distorts one’s perceptions of what’s moving and what’s not.
But the routine in which Lizzie Tollemache is meant to be walking on broken glass? Come on. There is zero sense of authenticity or danger.
Part of the problem here — for me, at least — is that we get to see so many excellent circuses in Vancouver. Cirque du Soleil appears untoppable in terms of skill levels, and it consistently delivers jaw-dropping designs. And The Cultch, which is presenting HAUS of YOLO, has done a generally fantastic job of bringing us very fine, smaller-scale circuses. I’m thinking of last June’s performance of Barbu by Québec’s Cirque Alfonse, for instance. Barbu provided consistent thrills — and an original, eccentric, and genuinely sexy vision. So much more satisfying than the weak sauce of HAUS of YOLO.
HAUS OF YOLO Co-written by Eve Gordon, Lizzie Tollemache. Co-directed by Eve Gordon and Rachael Dubois. Produced by The Dust Palace and presented by The Cultch. At the York Theatre until June 15. (Tickets and information)
PHOTO CREDIT: Eve Gordon in a photo by Ben Sarten.
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