La Vie

Went to see La Vie at the Festival of the Arts last night.  It was quite simply superb.

The acrobatics, the singing, the personalities were all first class, and I loved the over-arching plot that everyone there (including the audience) was in purgatory – a plane trip to hell which never arrives!

I got nervous when I found out on the day there is audience interaction, but luckily Auckland Girl and I were in a booth at the back, and those picked on tended to be in the front row. One guy ended up on stage with a cup on his head surrounded by the entire crew dancing around him.

My favourite female character was the crazy girl. She was just delightfully mad as she sang and swung about in her straitjacket.  Her facial expressions were golden.

The males were damn strong and incredibly flexible, as they twisted and twirled themselves about while balancing on arm arm. And one of them ever goes the full monty to female audience delight.

The venue was the Pacific Blue Festival Club on Frank Kitts Park – a tent with a stage floor and bar. It was a cosy intimate venue which worked so well.

The Festival finishes today so too late for others to see it, but you missed out big time if you haven’t.   It was the highlight of the Festival according to many.
You can read other reviews on Scoop, the Dom Post and Natalie at Texture.

The Dom Post says:

The performers are amazing – dive-rolling across the stage, balancing with one hand on the shoulders of fellow performers, suspended from the ceiling, twirling in chains, juggling diabolo and swapping tricks in the middle of an act – there is so much to take in and it is constantly spellbinding.

It really is hard to describe how good it was.