Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Kurios’ challenging audiences visions of reality

In Cirque du Soleil's latest production, audiences are discovering a hidden world filled with crazy ideas and grand dreams.

February 27, 2015 10:08 am
Four deep-sea creatures that embody electric eels inside the Seeker’s cabinet come to life in a contortion act. The wriggling artists execute a series of pyramids using the Mechanical Hand as a platform.
Four deep-sea creatures that embody electric eels inside the Seeker’s cabinet come to life in a contortion act. The wriggling artists execute a series of pyramids using the Mechanical Hand as a platform.

By SAMANTHA PAK

Reporter Newspapers

In Cirque du Soleil’s latest production, audiences are discovering a hidden world filled with crazy ideas and grand dreams.

“Kurios — Cabinet of Curiousities,” directed by nine-year veteran Michel Laprise, is performing at Marymoor Park in Redmond. The show follows an inventor who defies the laws of time, space and dimension in order to reinvent everything around him. According to the show’s website, “the visible becomes invisible, perspectives are transformed, and the world is literally turned upside down.”

Karl L’Écuyer, who plays Mr. Microscosmos (one of the main characters in the show), said the production premiered in April 2014, opening in Montreal and playing in Quebec City and Toronto before its run in San Francisco, which ended in mid-January.

After the show received strong reviews during its San Francisco run 32 additional performances were added. “Kurios” performances at Marymoor run through March 22.

L’Écuyer said there are about 46 artists in the show representing more than a dozen nationalities. L’Écuyer, an Acro Net artist, said as one of the artists, he and his showmates perform acrobatics on a tightened trapeze net — similar to a large trampoline, measuring 30 feet by 40 feet and raised about 10 feet above the ground.

“For an acrobat, it’s paradise,” he said. “It’s like being 2 again and jumping on your parents’ king-sized bed.”

The 32-year-old Montreal native added that this is his favorite part of the show as he and the other acrobats can reach heights up to 40-45 feet. He said he’s never been on an apparatus that allowed him to fly so high, and some of his other acrobat friends have expressed their excitement and desire to test out the Acro Net for themselves when they learn about what he is doing.

L’Écuyer said he tried other sports when he was young, but after his first taste of trampolining when he was about 8 years old, he “got hooked” on the feeling of flying.

The love of trampolining led to a spot on the Canadian national trampoline team, even while he was attending university earning his engineering degree. Instead of pursing a career in design or construction, he followed his passion and joined Cirque du Soleil roughly seven years ago.

His first show, “OVO” allowed him to travel throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia and he’s got high hopes for his second show.

L’Écuyer, who has been with “Kurios” since its inception, said in his role as Mr. Microscosmos, part of his costume is used to conceal a small woman. Her reveal to the audience is one of his favorite moments.

For more information about the show or to purchase tickets, visit www.kurios.com.

Samantha Pak: 425-867-0353, ext. 5052; spak@redmond-reporter.com