Performance Works - Vu

Tickets

Cost: $25
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The world of circus artist Etienne Manceau is a strange, funny, scary place. It’s a place where newspapers can become claws; where small obsessions can make you crazy; where everyday objects appear in a new light as they’re touched, moved, transformed. Manceau’s performance is wordless, a blend of Object Theatre, clowning and what the artist calls “miniature circus.” It’s a mix that could only come from the mind of an eccentric. One thing this show is not is conventional.
Manceau worked for years as a juggler, and has had deep involvement in circus culture. This show, in which he performs alone, applies the comical ethos of the circus milieu to a work comprised of one man and his collection of everyday objects. It’s about a sensitive, meticulous man and his relationship with those objects—how he transforms them, and how in turn they affect him. The creator shows wit, wonderful dexterity and small-scale ingenuity in creating art out of the quotidian. In his comic mugging, his precise physical feats and sheer wackiness he calls upon the tradition of old-fashioned physical comedy. You’ll be amused, impressed and maybe a little spooked; the show is a lot of fun but, like all the most creative art, it reaches well beyond entertainment.
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