Quidam

Watching Quidam at the Royal Albert Hall was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my year, tonight I got to re-live the experience. How lucky am I?

We had already booked for London in January when Quidam’s national tour was announced, but I can’t say I regretted the decision. I just considered myself fortunate to get two chances to see the show. The magical allure of Cirque du Soleil is strong.

Quidam opened in Sheffield tonight and, as expected, it was fantastic.

As I wrote in January, it’s hard to describe the amazing skills of the performers, it’s difficult to convey the feeling of astonishment as you watch in awe. How do they do that?

We had a very different perspective tonight, a minor miracle resulted in front row seats, everything looks even more amazing – not to mention thoroughly impossible – from up close.

Our ringside position delighted me – but left Mr TLC feeling more than a little nervous. For one horrible moment he thought his fears were well founded when the clown was selecting people for a comic interlude in which audience members have the starring roles. But, as they say in the panto, “He’s behind you!” Mr TLC’s relief was palpable as the man in the next row back stood up to claim his 15 minutes of fame. Bless.

I think there were a lot of people in the audience last night who were new to Cirque de Soleil, the show opens with a ‘radio’ being tuned and playing odd disjointed clips. Not even the theme from Allegria got much of a reaction, but that soon changed. There were gasps of disbelief at the skills of the tumblers and the aerial acts, there was raucous laughter at the antics of the clowns. The applause continued even after the show was over and the house lights came up.

Cirque de Soleil are amazing. If you get the chance, go. You won’t regret it.