With the French-Canadian Troupe Les 7 doigts de la main (The Seven Fingers)
A Blog View by Alejandra Enciso-Dardashti
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| Andrew Sumner and Beto Freitas, with the cast of Passengers at American Conservatory Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne. |
I was blown away when I saw Les 7 Doigts for the first time around 2011 in Los Angeles, at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre. As I enjoyed the performance, there was a sort of a Cirque du Soleil-ish reference and in spite of this, they are different. It is because of the elevated, artistic quality brought to the circus that makes their art unique.
A 100-minute train ride with no intermission full of daring acrobatics, contortions, saults, break dance, and tumbles as well as music, haze and a little bit of mystery/suspense. Conceived and directed by Shana Carroll the artistic troupe formed by Méliejade T. Bouchard, Kaisha D-W, Beto Freitas, Eduardo De Azevedo Grillo, Marco Ingaramo, Santiago Rivera Laugerud, Nella Niva, Mandi Orozco, and Andrew Sumner bring the audience into the trip with the different numbers that go by with their own rhythm and dose of stress each time when a contortion bends a little too far, or someone in the air is twisting as they are almost landing on the floor. I believe there is also a metaphoric quality to Passengers where it could also mean a window to life going by with all the people that come in and out of it along the pertaining adventures.
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| Kaisha Desselines-Wright and Dina Sok in Passengers at American Conservatory Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne. |
Passengers is a show that has a dash of every artistic fairy dust (or should I say magnesia to stay on brand?) that brings the audience to attest to the ability, strength, and beauty of the human body as well as the creativity of the mind and the distress of a performance that can even be life-threatening with grace and aesthetic.
I applaud The Old Globe for bringing this variety that breaks the mold of the traditional theatre season and hopefully will too, bring new diverse audiences to experience the magic.
Passengers is currently performing until July 30th. There will be Post Show Forums with the cast on Tuesday, July 25, and Wednesday, July 26. For performance times and dates please click here.
