Day 237 : Cirque Du Soleil

I have never seen a Cirque Du Soleil production before, but have heard rave reviews about their production from others who had seen previous productions such as Saltimbanco and Allegria.  So when I chance upon a brochure about their performance in Barcelona for a production called “Corteo”, I was excited and quickly looked online to check seats availability.

Tickets were pricey, and better seats were already taken.  So after some contemplating, weighing out the price and seat allocation factor, I decided to buy the cheapest ticket at €48.00, and hoped that I would still get a fairly good view even though my seat was in the last row. 

The show was taking place in El Grand Chapiteau, a special tentage set up at the Zoo Marino Platform, located next to the sea.   It took me a while to find the venue, and had to ask for directions in one of the nearest mall.  I barely just made it to the venue about 5 minutes before the show was due to start. 

  

The seats were set up in a nice cosy way, with the stage in the centre and seating on both sides of the stage.  When I was ushered in at the entrance, I was told that I will be upgraded, and managed to get to sit 7 rows away from the stage!  I guessed it helped that the show I caught started at 6pm, at a time when most people are probably just finishing work, and there was actually another performance taking place at 9pm that same night which would probably be more crowded.

I quickly took off my jacket and settled into my seat, and not long after, the show started.  

The story of Corteo seem to be centred on a clown who imagines his own funeral taking place in a carnival atmosphere, watched over by quietly caring angels.  Juxtaposing the large with the small, the ridiculous with the tragic and the magic of perfection with the charm of imperfection, the show highlights the strength and fragility of the clown, as well as his wisdom and kindness to illustrate the portion of humanity that is within each of us. 

I was mesmerised by the colours, costumes and the enchanting artistes jumping, spinning and performing on the stage, accompanied by melodious voices and instruments in the background.  For a moment, I thought that the music came from a CD, when I later realised that there were actually artistes singing live in 3 separate sections of the tentage with different instruments playing live too!

There were soothing moments, as well as fun and hilarious moments in the performance, and of course lots of angels expressing themselves in their angelic manner and charming the audience. 

I had fun watching the performance and was glad I managed to squeeze in one while I was in Spain.