Judging by the packed tent on a Sunday matinee, 3 days after opening, Dralion is going gangbusters in Brisbane. Many of you who read this will have already seen it or will have your tickets booked.
Cirque du Soleil have been coming to Brisbane for several years now. I’ve been fortunate enough to see a couple of their previous shows and so had some idea of what to expect when I drove out to Hamilton to Le Grande Chapiteau – the huge blue and yellow tent. The only thing I hadn’t expected was the parking.
There’s a buzz in the air just walking into the tent. It comes in part from the excited crowds, in part from the dim and cool interior after the blazing heat outside, but mostly from the stage and the music.
I arrived early and spent some time people-watching, amazed that, for all this talk of recession, families are lining up to enter the big tent and are spending up big once inside. (See merchandise.)
What makes Cirque du Soleil stand out from other circuses is the way they incorporate music, design and costuming to the circus tent to give an other-worldly spectacular experience. There’s a band on stage, with singers prowling across the set while singing the haunting vocals. Everyone is dressed by Francois Barbeau, whose designs are sumptuous and exotic. In Dralion, they’re colour-coded for the four elements – air, water, fire and earth and they pay homage to the East, especially China.
The show begins with a trio of clowns (including Brisbane actor Hayden Spencer), speaking in a nonsensical language that borrows heavily from Italian – in vocal expression at least. The clowns interact with the audience and single people out for fun as they warm up the audience. All well and good and what I’d expect from clowns.
What I didn’t expect and didn’t like was the trickery employed in Dralion. I won’t say more because I don’t want to ruin the evening for anyone who hasn’t seen the show yet. I believe that, as audiences, we enter an unspoken agreement when we go to live events. If we see stand-up comedy we expect to be heckled and to laugh at others. If we see theatre we agree to suspend our disbelief and we expect the production to reward us for going along with the tale. The tricks in circus should be the amazing feats of bravery and strength and discipline, not an attempt to dupe the audience. Anyway, those of you who’ve seen the show will know what I’m talking about and you’re free to use the comments section below to add your thoughts.
Trickery aside, Dralion delivers all the thrills and the bravery that we wish for when we go to the circus. This is evident from the moment Wang Junru steps onto the stage. Wang is a petite and delicate looking girl and her act is mesmerising. She’s one of the strongest performers I’ve seen – she maintains a single-handed handstand for a ridiculous length of time – but she’s also a contortionist and she does her physically impossible poses all while balanced on a platform on one hand.
There are 13 acts in the repertoire for Dralion and each performance showcases 10 of them. I missed out on the double trapeze, which I was sad to miss, but I gained the graceful arial hoop. (Watch a video of the duo trapeze.)
The highlight of the show for me – and for many people I’ve spoken to – was the trampolining act and, luckily, it’s in every performance, so you won’t miss it. Performers fall from a roof, bounce and land on a shelf on a wall. They cross over in the air, tumbling and leaping at dizzying heights. There are no crash mats on the floor and the act is a dizzying, glorious celebration of life.
The other act that gives this exuberant feeling is hoop diving. Fifteen acrobats tumble and fly through the air as they dive through metal hoops, balanced one on top of the other. The audience whooped, cheered and stamped them on in their extraordinary feats.
The arial pas de deux was romantic, weightless and beautiful and Vladik Myagkostupov’s juggling combined acrobatics and incredible skill to stunning effect.
There are too many acts in Dralion to mention them all individually. Together they add up to an astonishing production, breathtaking in scope, size and spectacle. If you see it, I hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Merchandise
To enter the magical world of Dralion, you have to walk through impressive merchandise tents, selling everything from fridge magnets and pencils to exquisite feathered masks.
They also sell refreshments, including bottled water at $5 a bottle or Cascade light beer at $7 a bottle (a far better option in my mind!). For food there are packets of chips, hot dogs and big containers of popcorn ($6).
Parking
I was thoroughly impressed by the efficient parking system on the way in to Dralion. There’s a $5 parking fee but all the proceeds go to Young Care charity and I was more than happy to send a donation their way. Attendants waved the car through to the appropriate spot and then we walked along the dockland to the entrance.
It was coming out at the end that was the nightmare. I went to the 1pm Sunday show and it took an hour to get my car out of the carpark. After waiting for 15 minutes in the heat, without moving a centimetre, I decided to wander back and buy an umbrella from the merchandise centre ($49 and lovely!) and stand under my brolly and wait. After half an hour, when not a single car in my section had moved, I wandered back past the tent and found some luscious soft grass and a little beach to enjoy. After an hour I was able to drive out.
The parking debacle isn’t Cirque du Soleil’s fault – it’s because all the cars from 3 carparks have to take the same narrow road out and leave at the same traffic lights onto Kingsford Smith Drive – and the traffic lights only let out about 5 cars at a time. Argh! Crazy. If you’re going to the show, either leave before the clapping and run to your car, or go and enjoy the grass and the beach area and reminisce about the show before trying to exit. Or park further away and walk.
What did you think of Dralion? Share your experience and leave a comment below.
I'm curious to know where the trickery you speak of took place. Its also a little disingenuous to say that commenting on it could spoil what is otherwise a good evening by revealing a truth about it that on your account is being deliberately hidden. I, and members of my family went to Dralion and loved the show. The delays in getting out of the parking lot were as you described it, but not as stressful as the delays being stuck on the gateway bridge to reach Hamilton in enough time (as I expected a long walk to the tents) as most north-bound holiday makers who couldn't care less except to head for sun, sand and surf stopped at the non-e-toll booths to receive a g'day how are you going? from someone handing out flyers advertising e-Toll [after 1 hour of traffic snarls to the bridge, one had to draw on emotional fortitude to respond predictably with the usual banal automated Aussie reply 'ok' or 'not bad' as if the person was there and the question was asked to commsumate the torturous experience of knowing that 10 lucky minutes was all that was left for me and my GPS to get us on the grounds and in the tent before the doors shut until intermission (what a let down that would have been) - we made it, incidentally - just - carrying one of my kids to speed up the long walk from the car park].
In retrospect, in the light of your piece on Dralion, it would be nice to know, out of curiosity if nothing else, a little more about what deception was involved? It is clear that safety ropes were used - thankfully. And it is clear that the clowns and some of the performers and acts are different to what was depicted on the North American production shown on the DVDs of Dralion on sale (glad I bought one to re-live the experience and show family members that didn't go). Good to know the tall clown is a local. Apart from that, I think I've missed something? The music, I assume, was all live, as it was in the performance on the DVD - at least I assume so? Was the music not live? Were some of the acts made to look real/risky/difficult but were fake?