Performing arts megastar Robert LePage has brought his own touch to the latest Cirque du Soleil show coming to Auckland. He talks to Lydia Jenkin.
Being asked to create a show for Cirque du Soleil is something many directors and writers would surely dream of - the large-scale spectacular combination of Olympic-level acrobats, lavish costumes, amazing set and lighting design, all at the ready to do whatever their imagination can conjure.
For Robert Lepage, though, it might seem like just another gig in a long and impressive performing arts resume as theatre director, film director, playwright, actor, and artistic director). His Needles and Opium was part of the New Zealand Festival at the beginning of the year and his Anderson Project came to the Auckland Festival in 2009.
But he was excited when Cirque first approached him about collaborating many years ago.
"It's a wonderful opportunity of course, and you get a huge amount of freedom. But that's not always a gift," he laughs, "because there's too much to contemplate. Apart from knowing the number of seats for the audience, and the number of artists, and the budget, there are very few things pre-determined, so it's very free, and they want you to surprise them.
"But it's also a very long process to do a Cirque show. From the time they contact you to the official opening, that probably takes three years, so there's a lot of inspiration and preparation and prototyping, a lot of opportunities to mould your ideas."
Lepage, a native of Quebec, had a long history with the company, having launched his own circus show at the same festival where Cirque launched in the late 1980s. He remained steadfast friends with the group, with suggestions of collaboration arising frequently. It was 2002 by the time his schedule aligned with theirs, and Lepage took on the task of creating Cirque's biggest arena show, Ka, for the MGM Grand, which was a huge success.
He was delighted, however, to be given the opportunity to work on a big top touring show next.
"I always wanted to work on a smaller show with Cirque, and for me, what I think of as a small show, was the big top show. They're not small really, they're very big productions, but the Vegas shows are huge and way over the top, so in comparison, doing a big top show felt like it could be more intimate."
That "intimate big top show" became Totem, which premiered in Canada in 2010, and is now making its way to Auckland. It's a celebration of evolution, of the animals inside us, and of the wilderness and our connections to it.
Robert LePage believes the circus is a perfect mix of sport and theatre.
"When I began working on Totem, I knew that I had to work on a theme that would be open enough, that whatever artists would show up, and whatever their discipline, there would be enough space or room within my theme for the artists and acrobats to express themselves.
"I was interested in this whole animal theme, and how Cirque du Soleil made a reputation as one of the first circuses that did not torture any animals or use any animals in their shows. Back then it was uncommon to see a big top show where there wasn't some kind of lion or elephant or monkey - and that got me thinking about trying to bring the idea of animals back into the circus, of finding the animals within the human beings.
"We're all, at one point in our lives, reptiles crawling on the floor, and we're all monkeys climbing, before we become people and walk straight, and we will always have a dream of flying. So within our own body we do have all species, and I thought that would be an interesting theme to explore with acrobats because they have a way of developing these different animalistic traits, whether they're reptilian, or monkey, or feline."
Lepage's background as a theatre and film director brought different elements to his work as a Cirque director of course - particularly when it came to collaborating with the artists involved.
"What's very different with acrobats compared to actors, is that acrobats are trained to serve your vision, and I'm not really used to having it that way. I'm used to having people confronting my ideas. So I would consult the acrobats, and they were often surprised at that to begin with. I was trying to get their personalities into the show, because they're very obsessed with their discipline, with their shape, their body, health, energy, it's critical to them. They know their bodies better than anyone, so I was trying to get them to figure out how to shine to the best of their abilities."
When it comes to the longevity of Cirque, and the wide-ranging appeal of the shows, Lepage has an astute theory - something that he kept at the forefront of his mind as he worked on Totem.
"I think a lot of people love the circus because it balances different tastes. There are people who love sports, but are not so much into the cultural aspects, and there's plenty for them to enjoy, and there are people who love theatre and culture, but not sport, and there's plenty for them to tap into as well.
"The circus is a great meeting point for these two themes, and these two audiences, because a lot of the artists who are part of Cirque are Olympians, they come from Olympic disciplines, sporting disciplines, not necessarily from a cultural background, and then you have all the people who work on the music and costumes and sets and lighting, and they often have very artistic backgrounds.
"It's also a universal art, the circus, and it's about defiance and challenges - challenging gravity and weight and strength - so for me, it always creates a sense of awe."
Who: Robert Lepage, Canadian creator/writer/director What: Cirque du Soleil's Totem Where and when: Alexandra Park in Auckland under the Grand Chapiteau, August 22-September 28.
