Don’t be fooled by the title of this show: the only thing that is black in Dark Circus by French group STEREOPTIK is the ink, a use of light that recalls the dawn of cinema and the shadow-theatre, and a bizarre universal tale universe inhabited by unusual circus performers united by a single ironic motto: «Come for the show, stay for the woe».
After the extraordinary success of the 2016 Edition of the Romaeuropa Festival, the duo formed of musicians and illustrators Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet returns, as part of REF Kids, with its amusing tale created in collaboration with the author and illustrator of children’s books Pef. His was the idea for this slightly noir, slightly unlucky circus where every single number turns into catastrophe: trapeze artists who fall from a height, animal tamers swallowed by fierce lions and cannon women lost in space.
The fascination of the puppet theatre, the magic of cinema and animation, live illustration, music and an unusual use of everyday objects, lights and colours (all handcrafted techniques used strictly in real time) open the doors of fantasy and invite us to escape happily from reality.
