L’antre de la nonne (blog)

22 July 2017

Cirque Plume’s Dernière Saison (22 July 2017)

A tree hanging above the stage loses its leaves —an undeniable indicator of passing time. It’s autumn: People wander about irremediably, as if on the platform of a station or the bank of a river, an uncertain place. They appear as bearers of light, of sounds, and of breaths in the mist of November.

And then suddenly, it all starts to take off. Animal-like characters begin to enter, seeming to have just escaped from a bacchanal, arriving along with strange, dreamlike beings. Laughter sets in.

But at times, the frenzy becomes suspended, giving rise to vivid poetry: a disheveled fairy takes flight in an aerial hoop ballet; a poet dance sunder feathers that seem to be snowflakes, a cat woman-like creature dances and balances on a wire; another fairy perches above and calls out orders to the moon. The seasons go by through a series of different scenes. The tree is witness to the passage of time, covered, by turns, with snow, flowers, and fruit.

The transparent or opaque sheets create new spaces and new characters, and landscapes arise as if by magic. We pass from sincere and good-natured amusement to wonder. At times, the moment that is offered to us is so beautiful that tears come to the brims of our eyes. Bodies contort and transform themselves on a raging sea, among the razzle-dazzle of a ballroom, or under umbrellas with thousands of lights. The music is magnificent, rhythmic, and sometimes tribal; at times, it is even produced from simple suitcases. We are transported by this troupe, well beyond the “last season.”

And then we simple onlookers move on. Whatever our age, as we leave, we take with us the light of the unique and magnificent moment that we’ve had the chance to be part of. In our hearts, we carry a desire to go back in time, to experience once again the magic of this dernière saison.

Cécile Piaton (Audience member, “La dernière saison”)