ELLE19 October 2018
Plume’s wings flutter one last time
Is it because we know that this is the last time that our heart is already full of nostalgia? Cirque Plume is taking its final bow, and it hasn’t beaten around the bush about announcing it: It’s “La Dernière Saison.” In the mid-80’s, the Franche-Comté company composed a new circus language, leaving behind the circus ring for a frontal stage, mixing theater, music and acrobatics, far from the fanfare of the old line circuses. Since 1984, Plume has written twelve stories. The most recent one carries in it everything that constitutes the atmosphere that artistic director Bernard Kudlak and his gang have created: a sinuous and expertly studied set, plays on light and shadow, and a mixture of absurd humor and perilous stunts, all giving way to the poetry of accidents. Set against a soundtrack à la Tom Waits, composed by Benoit Schick, the seasons pass by: autumn leaves precede snowstorms of feathers before humanity plummets into the dark season of plastic. On the way, we encounter clowns from caves, skiing contortionists, high-octane drummers. Every generation of the Plume family has made the trip. It’s sweet, it’s gay, it’s beautiful. And it’s not over yet, so run!
C.R.