'Cirque du Soleil – OVO' review — the masters of circus are back with a joyful carnival of incredible insects

Read our review of Cirque du Soleil – OVO, now in performances at the Royal Albert Hall to 1 March.

Summary

• Cirque du Soleil make a welcome return to the Royal Albert Hall
• The renowned circus company bring their popular production OVO
• The show features a joyful carnival of insects
• The incredible acts include contortionists and aerial cradle

Cirque du Soleil’s annual residency at the Royal Albert Hall returns with the jubilant festival of insects, OVO. Last seen in London back in 2018, this show looks at a joyful ecosystem caught off guard by a new arrival who brings with him a mysterious giant egg (hence the title). He quickly falls for the charms of the Ladybug, but can’t pluck up the courage to move things along.

It’s a thin narrative and the egg itself has little-to-no purpose. However, we all know that people don’t go to a Cirque show for the storyline, but for the eye-popping acts. Deborah Colker’s direction is full of playful energy and wonderfully evocative movement; butterflies dance balletically, ants skitter, and spiders scuttle around the stage.

Appropriately for a show based on insects, many performers actually seem to be invertebrates. Cirque’s contortionists are always world-class, and rubber-spined Nyamgerel Gankhuyag receives deserved ‘wows’. She balances her whole body, gripping a pole in her mouth and bringing her legs over her face so her head rests against her back. Fellow contortionist Cooper Yarosloski balances on one hand atop a climbing frame shaped like plant tendrils, with his back bending and legs moving at impossible angles. All this with barely a tremor or shake.

Other feats include Qui Jiangming’s striking slackwire act, set within a semi-circular rocking frame. His balancing ability is just extraordinary. The nerve-wracking aerial cradle ending Act I is performed 45 feet off the ground. As members of the group are thrown and flipped around like ragdolls, a missed hand evokes gasps. The trampowall and tumbling finale features gravity-defying jumping up a 64ft-high wall. There are also displays of more traditional and absolutely perfect acrobatics as performers somersault through the air.

Not every act deserves similarly high praise; the opening foot juggling needs more precision, the cyr wheel is unremarkable, and the neon diabolo lacks impact. The clowning has been updated since its last outing, with the awkward objectification of the Ladybug thankfully dropped. However, the clowning acts as something of a vortex for the energy in the hall, however good-natured and jokey the performers try to be.

Yet elsewhere, the production has a warm, carnivalesque atmosphere thanks to its bright colours, dynamic lighting and energetic movement. The talented musicians and singers bring vibrancy and warmth to the Brazilian-inflected music.

Liz Vandal’s striking costumes are all handmade, using dazzling colours and reflective fabrics to mimic insect bodies and wings. Elements such as the butterfly’s cocoon and the dragonfly’s iridescent wings are beautifully realised. Sergyi Rysenko's Creatura is a flexible, dancing delight, with an amazing headless costume made with giant Slinky toys as arms and legs.

It is not a show for those wanting detailed narrative, but as the rain falls outside, the Royal Albert Hall is, once again, a warm and welcoming place for thrilling theatrical spectacle from these masters of circus.

Cirque du Soleil – OVO is at the Royal Albert Hall to 1 March. Book Cirque du Soleil – OVO tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Cirque du Soleil – OVO (Photos by Marie-Andrée Lemire)