The idea behind Traces, the new show at the Peacock Theatre, can be concisely summarised in two words; urban circus. On the surface, this concept looks simple but I was surprised and delighted to see how many fresh and stimulating ideas came bounding out of this cast of five.
As may of us are aware from our morning tube journeys, the Cirque Du Soleil is back in town for another rendition of Quidam. It never fails to draw in hoards, and rightly so. The audience enters the area ready to be whisked off into another world full of magic, intrigue and, of course, some mind-boggling displays of strength, agility and flexibility. Traces comprises all of these elements, minus the magic parallel universe. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Instead of taking us into another world, the circus invades ours. They take elements of every day urban life (i.e. basketballs, skateboards, even mannequins) and use them in a fantastically fresh way.
Having established this unusual collision of the circus and the city, the creators of Traces fuse two other worlds as an additional strand. I have always wondered when some brave choreographer was going to blend the vocal world and the dance world, and this show answers my question. The performers talk. They introduce themselves, tell us about their pasts, reflect on their memories (or 'traces' – get it?) and share their talents with the audience. It soon becomes apparent that they are house mates living in a small space; some of them play the piano, some of them basketball, others enjoy sculpting, skateboarding etc. These introductions are interspersed with incredible dance / acrobatics routines involving pair work in contemporary dance form, somersaulting between two vertical poles erected up-stage, and individual routines involving the usual suspects of circus acrobatics – hoops and elastics being two examples.
Although I rapidly fell in love with the idea of the urban circus and talking performers, I also felt that these concepts had not been explored enough. Unfortunately, if you are going to give some acrobatics a story based in the real world, the routines have to be woven into the story in a seamless and believable way. This is where Traces needs work. There are several themes introduced (the weakest of which is, ironically, the title of the show i.e. the memories or traces people leave throughout their lives) and never developed. This is a shame, as a truly inspirational idea has not been given its due. In the second act it is revealed that all of the characters are contestants on 'Infinity House' i.e. Big Brother, and are evicted via a catapult which sends them flying into the air. I liked the satirical / tongue-in-cheek brush with which this was tarnish and it provided a neat end to the show, but again, it was followed by an acrobatics routine that made a nonsense of the finale.
To conclude, this review is a somewhat confusing mix-match of praise and condemnation. However, Traces is the start of what I hope will be a fascinating new arm of acrobatic / dance theatre, and I highly recommend it as something fresh if under-developed. Urban circus has a long life ahead of it, and this is only the beginning.
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