“A totem is not just a totem pole,” explains Totem writer and director Robert Lepage in a video promoting the newest Cirque du Soleil offering. “It’s the animal that’s within you. Some people are more bears, some people are more apes and some are fish.” But almost every person who has ever attended a production under the big top has become a mesmerized animal seduced by magic. Lepage has lots of experience with intelligent spectacle, by way of his theatrical and operatic work and through staging concerts for Peter Gabriel. His other collaboration with Cirque, Kà, stuns sold-out audiences in Las Vegas on a nightly basis. Tracing man’s evolution, Totem is set on a multifaceted, multimillion-dollar stage that appears capable of evoking any setting. Will Lepage apply his stylish gay aesthetic to the already deeply erotic offerings of Cirque? We can only hope that he brings out lots of inner bears.
Totem runs Wed, Aug 10–Sun, Oct 2 under the Grand Chapiteau, The Port Lands, 51 Commissioners St. cirquedusoleil.com