To fall in love with ENC graduates

The graduates of the National Circus School (ENC) are presenting the show these days Fall in love! at TOHU.

A unique piece put on track by the artists Goos Meeuwsen and Helena Bittencourt, themselves clowns, actors and acrobats, where different dramatic lines, different stories and different universes meet under the same theme, the most universal of all; love, love in all its forms.

Inspired by the 21 graduating artists, the play literally tells the story of a group of artists, in old-time Hollywood, putting on a show about love.

“There is a romantic side, but also the unexpected. Things that happen in spectacle, but also with love itself which is sometimes seen in another way,” argued Helena Bittencourt at the QMI Agency, the day before the premiere.

The show, which premiered Thursday evening, begins as soon as the spectators enter the room. The artists swarm on the circular stage, rearranged for the occasion, and behind the curtain, which will, during this evening, itself be an integral part of the show – pulling up, lowering itself, falling and rising again .

Love songs lull and guide the different phases of the show, and by implication, of love.

First presented in a manner glamour through acts of aerial straps, juggling and jumping through hoops, love gradually transforms, evolves, changes. The characters too.

Couples who meet, break up and meet again. One of the characters writes love letters that will never be returned, while the postman is dying to open the epistolary correspondence.

A fortune teller, who tells predictions about love, entertained the crowd with his interventions in the public and his aerial strap numbers.

The different trapeze numbers, including a high duet, and another on the title I can not say by Barbara were particularly appreciated by the audience, as was a magnificent aerial hoops number and the hand-to-hand numbers, which received the biggest applause.

In addition to the numerous group situations, through which the great chemistry between the artists was felt, the show was able to combine history with circus prowess under its theme.

The game of depth

The directors also played with the depth of the room, echoing the depths of love on Thursday evening. “There is what we see in front of the curtain and what is hidden behind it. The show that the artists want to do, the glamour, happy love, seductive love and what lies behind it. The less beautiful aspects that we don’t necessarily see as spectators,” described Goos Meeuwsen, who returned to Montreal last fall, especially to produce this piece, 20 years after having himself graduated from ENC.

In recent years, he has performed in Brazil and Holland, with his partner Helena Bittencourt and their circus company.

The show Fall in love! will be presented at TOHU until June 9.