Traces – Empire Theatre, Liverpool

Created by: Les 7 Doigts de la Main

Director/Choreography: Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider

Reviewer: Malcolm Wallace

The Public Reviews Rating:

There are plenty of circus style stage spectaculars doing the rounds these days the vast majority of which are stunning pieces of entertainment. But there can be a distinct lack of originality to some of these productions and a certain generic styling, which leaves audiences yearning for something that little bit different.

Traces by Les 7 Doigts de la Main (The 7 Fingers) is just that, something different. First seen at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival and following successful seasons in London, New York, Montreal and Paris, Traces is currently mid way through a UK tour and is a show not to be missed!

Combining traditional circus skills with urban sports such as basketball and skateboarding, an eclectic mix of dance styles and music, audio visual effects and some good old larking about, Traces is utterly fascinating from start to finish.

Part of its success is that the whole thing is played quite tongue in cheek and the performers, whilst clearly highly professional, maintain a sense of fun and idiocy and relish making fun of themselves and each other.

There are five performers, all very rounded in their abilities but each with individual specialist acts, which are highlighted at various points throughout the evening. Philip Rosenberg’s gymnastics item shows incredible strength and balance whilst Genevieve Morin’s aerial display is impressive in its flair and beauty. Antoine Carabinier-Lepine’s solo spot involving a large ring is stunning to watch. Antoine Auger faltered once or twice during some of his more tricky moves but carried on regardless and Jonathan Casaubon provides many moments of comic relief. Interspersed around these solo items are group set pieces which are varied and slickly choreographed. Particularly enjoyable is the skateboard routine in the second half and the first half finale; a nail biting routine involving the whole cast and two poles. Some of the acrobatics on display during this routine simply have to be seen to be believed.

At times the acrobatics and gymnastics make way for routines moving towards contemporary dance and although minimal these sections do slow the pace somewhat, and I would certainly swap the final routine for each half over. After such a thrilling build up to the interval, the routine chosen to close the whole show feels like a let down.

These are minor quibbles though. Overall, Traces is a tremendous theatrical experience, expertly directed and choreographed by Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, which deserved a much bigger audience than Liverpool granted it on opening night at the Empire.

Once not to be missed!