By Beverly Andrews
The French-Canadian company Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984 by former street performers Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix with the mission of reinventing what a circus could be. They aimed to create a circus that did not exploit animals or rely on frightening clowns, but instead captivated audiences from beginning to end with themed, story-driven performances that felt truly magical.
Originally a small, Quebec-based show funded by the provincial government to celebrate Quebec’s centenary, Cirque du Soleil has grown from its humble beginnings into a global phenomenon, with multiple productions running simultaneously around the world—including permanent shows in Las Vegas.
Like many entertainment companies, Cirque du Soleil was hit hard by the pandemic, forced to close all its shows for extended periods. These closures brought the company to the brink of collapse. In 2020, Cirque du Soleil filed for bankruptcy protection and laid off 3,500 employees. However, after a complex financial restructuring, the company’s shows have slowly begun to reemerge.
London’s Royal Albert Hall now hosts one of Cirque du Soleil’s finest productions: Kurios, originally created in 2014. Kurios is a dazzling spectacle that reminds audiences of what the company does best—bringing visions of magic to life.
Kurios was created and directed by Michel Laprise. The show explores the world of a late 19th-century inventor who creates a machine that defies the laws of time, space, and dimension. As he reimagines his surroundings through a steampunk lens, he is joined by characters from another dimension who interact with him and his creations. The journey that unfolds is otherworldly, transporting the audience to a time before electricity, when everything was powered by steam. Audiences are left in awe of the acts—performed, of course, by some of the most talented artists in the world.
Kurios reminds audiences what sets Cirque du Soleil apart from other circuses: its commitment not just to entertain, but to tell a story. This show does so beautifully, drawing us into the world of the eccentric inventor and the extraordinary beings he encounters—whether it’s the tiniest of fairies, gravity-defying acrobatic twins, or a hilariously disastrous date in which a man transforms into an annoyingly persistent cat. All of it is delivered with theatrical sleight of hand that remains the envy of performance companies around the world.
My personal favourite was a hand magician who, using a giant lamp, reflected light and sleight of hand to create the illusion of a rogue hand running amok through the audience. It was both startling and very, very funny. The illusion was so seamless, it was almost impossible to understand how it was done.
As I listened to the variety of languages spoken by audience members at the end of the show, it was a powerful reminder of why art matters—a reminder that great art is magical, and that magic is a universal language spoken all around the world.
