@ Summerhall, Edinburgh, until Fri 3 Jul 2015
Cirque-Cirqulaire’s Working Class marks a new type of performance for the Magic Festival. Attempting to bridge the gap between magic and narrative, the show’s promotional material describes it as a combination of visual theatre, circus, storytelling and magic – interweaving them into a poetic story. It tells the story, without words, of a man in different phases of his life as he moves from caretaker to company boss. He escapes his mundane existence into a world of colour, “becoming more and more addicted to the surreal”. It’s the first representation of a new magic movement, aptly named “Magie Nouvelle”.
The show was developed over 2 years by Cirque-Cirqulaire founder Benjamin Rummens. This long incubation period is difficult to comprehend in a show that, at least this evening, feels uncertain and amateur.
The set is minimal and consists of a desk, covered in various objects: a chair; a scenery flat decorated with a pinboard; and a caretaker’s cleaning cart. The action is also minimalist and slow to start. A spinning clock and a bin that appears to fill and empty are clues that we are meant to be observing the passage of time. This passage is a little too slow, however, and although the clock and bin are clever props, it shouldn’t go on for as long as it does. Winning the audience over at the beginning of a show is crucial but with Working Class the moment of being won over never comes.
Rummens himself is a perfectly likeable clown and manages to keep us engaged, at least somewhat, for the duration of the 50 minute performance. The show falls down in a number of places. Playing in the Red Lecture Theatre of Summerhall, it falls victim to the prevalent theatrical problem of sightlines. Sitting at the end of an aisle, a lot of the action is hidden by audience members in front. As well as this, because of the angle of some seats, at times it is possible to see the secrets of a trick – a cup being dropped behind the desk, a dice hidden in the hand. There is also a section that is played out on the ground which is impossible to see from some seats, even with a good amount of neck craning.
The magic itself does not match up to expectations from a Magic Festival. Props change colour, paper is torn (a lot) and changes colour or is worked back into one whole again. The magic feels amateur. There are no big tricks and it never feels as though we are whisked away into the surreal world that is promised. In fact, the show conveys more of the drudgery and boredom of a long day at the office than it does of any escapism from it. Ultimately, the show doesn’t feel as though it has enough content to keep an audience entertained.
On a more positive note, what Rummens does deliver is a very gentle, quiet piece of theatre that – although it doesn’t manage to meet its grand ambitions – doesn’t lack its own charm. If Cirque-Cirqulaire take their idea and strip it back, perhaps focusing on one of the genres they have tried to blend in this performance, they may have something for the future. Unfortunately, it’s just not quite there yet.