A "Spectacle" en Paris

COMPAGNIE RASPOSO--Un Cirque or 'un Spectacle' under a Tent!

 

Le Chant du Dindon (the song of the turkey!!)

 

In Paris you can often find 'un Espace Cirque' (a tent) in many neighbourhoods for many kinds of performance.  I try to scout out one or two during our visits; it's always hit or miss given that I really can't read the descriptions thoroughly enough.  Sometimes these events turn out to be a 'miss' like the time I dragged Paul, Jory and Scott to a 'horse show' not thinking that we would be in a small arena filled with dust and hay, aggravating Scott's allergies!  Not such a good pick!

 

This Sunday, however, was a different story.  We travelled out to the suburbs to a park where a small tent had been erected for a travelling "Spectacle". It was like going back in time--almost like a vaudeville performance.  The troupe (15 in all, 5 of which were from the same family) did EVERYTHING!  They were the actors, stage hands, writers and crowd control--in the two hour performance. Apart from a 20 min. intermission, EVERYONE worked all of the time.  If they weren't performing some amazing acrobatic feat, they were comedians or mimes or musicians providing the background music. In addition, acting as spotters, or changing the sets frequently engaging with the audience as they changed rigging or reset the ring for the next act.

 

This show had a little bit of everything including a live turkey (of the title), some magic doves and 4 dogs!  The performance followed a story line of sorts--a little like you would see in 'Cirque du Soliel'.  The performances were professional, entertaining and a hit with both the youngest and oldest members of the audience.  The venue, under a small tent, with unassigned bare plank seating--was ,intimate, but challenging for our backs and tooshes.  The first three rows, for the most part were reserved for the young children, the rest of us in stadium seating behind-- somewhat like being in the audience of a little league game!  The performers were often out in the audience, engaging with us, stepping over benches to adjust the sets or moving people back to make room for the next more 'energetic' tumbling displays.

 

As I said, the performance was fantastic--high wire acts, unbelievable contortions, magic and humour all rolled into a theme that kept us entranced; all for the affordable price of 24 Euros.