The audible gasps and applause from those watching follow her as she leaves the stage.Īriri’s aerial straps performance, a standout of the evening, is a fitting ode to her character, a glamorous starlet and the one guest that does not seem to fit in with the others. Bennett’s piece allows us to be voyeurs watching her, the maid, enter a room that she is meant to tidy, but instead she winds her way up and around her aerial rope, abilities on full display as she swings, catches, releases, drops, and catches again. These larger acts include two aerial pieces, performed by Una Bennett and Tuedon Ariri respectively. His character is tasked with keeping the story moving along throughout a multitude of intervals that separate the bigger spectacle acts. Wicky’s clowning seems to be the way into everyone’s hearts during the evening’s performance. We giggle as he struggles with a single suitcase, somersaulting, tripping, sliding, falling, eventually ending up with the case on his head and romance in his heart… for a lovely red carry-on case left on the bar. The endearing maitre d’, portrayed by Antonin Wicky, cajoles hearty belly laughs from the audience during a scene that could have come straight from a Charlie Chaplin bit. This is evident from the start of the show as Julius Bitterling and César Mispelon, (yes, that is Julius/César) partner in a bright and energetic hand-to-hand acrobatic act and the laughs continue throughout the show. The production does not take itself too seriously, mixing breathtaking aerial work with hilarious clowning antics and slapstick comedy.

The audience is allowed a glimpse into the lives of individual travellers passing into and out of each others’ lives, touching each other for a moment and then moving on.Īdmittedly, not every moment of Hotel held my undivided attention, but the strengths of the show lie in its whimsy.

An opulent set, created by designer Francis Farley-Lemieux, seems as though it has been plucked from the lobby of some grand art deco hotel of yesteryear. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto 6th February, 2019 ‘Hotel’, bu Cirque ÉloizeĬelebrating their 25th year entertaining audiences with their own brand of circus, Montreal-based Cirque Éloize present Hotel, a new show with an old world feel.

Circus character old maid cards