JADAR

★★★★★

2024 marks 40 glorious years of Cirque du Soleil, the world’s premier theatre company. To mark the momentous occasion, the company have brought one of their most iconic shows, OVO, back to the UK, where it is celebrating its own 15th anniversary. The premiere (with guests invited to indulge on cocktails and canapés at The Mezz, AO Arena’s prestige new restaurant and bar) fell on World Theatre Day, so it was a celebration on multiple fronts.

OVO takes its thematic inspiration from the world of insects, with its score inspired by the music of Brazil (“ovo” means “egg” in Portuguese). The show is as much a celebration of Brazil as it is the insect world, with Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker ensuring that the production does not become a fetishistically exotic spectacle, which is always a risk. The idea for the show is not about the acts, dancing nor insects, but, rather, movement; everything else is secondary, though, nonetheless, an important cog in a well-oiled machine.

The arena is transformed into the Amazon rainforest – and we are taken so deep into the forest that we explore areas that were previously unexplored, with dancing, anthropomorphic insects and huge, magical eggs. The show does not actually intend to create a magical, fictional universe per se, but, rather, it crafts a dazzling landscape so that can recognise the under-appreciated majesty of nature and biology – especially bugs and insects, which are often considered ugly and annoying. Science and magic are opposite entities but some aspects of science (and, indeed, life) are so mind-blowing, and hard to fathom for the human mind, that they can appear magical.

The physical set-up of Cirque shows vary massively. Their last show to tour the UK, Corteo, took up almost the entirety of the arena’s pit, with the audience sat at either side, whilst OVO has the traditional layout of the arena but with the stage far out into the pit, so there are only a few seats on the floor.

OVO begins with a giant egg atop the stage. Suddenly, a few insects make their way through the audience and onstage. The gorgeous, Brazilian-inspired music starts playing, the egg somehow shrinks and vanishes, night turns to day, and a dazzling array of bugs fill the stage. We are now deep in the rainforest, and we will not leave until the natives say that we can. We must allow them to entertain us for two hours, showcasing their remarkable abilities and sheer beauty.

Whilst this is a themed circus show, with an overarching narrative, it still has many of the conventions of circus, from acrobats and musicians to clown-like characters who endearingly speak in their own language, which is somehow intelligible for humans all over the world, and demand audience participation.

The “clowns”, who essentially host the show and perform comedy routines in between acts, are Gerald Regitschnig (Austria), François-Guillaume Leblanc (Canada), and Neiva Nascimeno (Brazil). The trio are wonderful as Master Flipo (the Chief of the Insect Community who keeps the chaotic world in order), The Foreigner (a fly from a faraway land who brings with him the titular “ovo”), and Ladybug (who brings life and joy to the world of insects and also ends up falling for the Foreigner), respectively.

The cast come from all over the world – Cirque du Soleil is interested only in casting the crème de la crème of performers – which adds another layer of diversity and its beauty. It’s poetic that one of the leads is French-Canadian, like Cirque du Soleil itself, whilst another comes from Brazil, where OVO is seemingly set. Their characters fall in love, symbolising the production’s connection between Canada and Brazil.

The singer, who appears sporadically throughout the show, is sublime. Her soothing vocals fill the arena and our ears like ear-worms.

The star of the show, however, is obviously the acts. There’s sky-high juggling, awe-inspiring aerial, tantalising trapeze, and inhuman (indeed, insect-like) contortion, and more!

The act 1 finale sees three pieces of set lowered from above, with performers swinging from one to the other, and later leaping down to the netting below. The audience’s favourite number, however, has to be the grand finale, which sees trampolinists (dressed as crickets) filling the wall (a decorated climbing frame) and bouncing on to the trampolines below before firing back on to the wall – whilst other performers perform on the stage below.

The show’s attention-to-detail is incredible, with random insects appearing briefly onstage during other insect’s acts, reminding the audience that we are deep in the rainforest, where all sorts of weird creatures will appear out of nowhere. Throughout the show, bugs occasionally scurry along the climbing frame, teasing its use during the epic finale – which is even more spectacular than anyone could anticipate.

The show closes with the whole cast filling the stage and offering a little boogie, with the mysterious “ovo” brought back onstage for one last Kinder surprise (get it?).

Every aspect of this production is majestic, from the gorgeous staging and the stupendous costumes (one would be forgiven for thinking that Gaultier designed them) to the terrific acts and the remarkable score.

Cirque du Soleil is sometimes criticised for being too commercial and losing the grit that once defined it (and indeed circus more broadly), but that is inevitable with any growing business, from restaurants to entertainment companies. People don’t want a traditional circus when they attend a Cirque du Soleil show; they expect a spectacle – and that is exactly what OVO is. Cirque du Soleil might not be as gritty as it was decades ago but it has retained its quirk – and OVO brings that quirk to the forefront.

Cirque du Soleil: OVO runs at AO Arena, Manchester until March 31 and tours the UK until April 28. It then tours Europe and the USA until September 8.