Kooza to bring circus roots to Calgary
By Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald September 11, 2010
Kooza Photograph by: Courtesy, Cirque du SoleilCALGARY -- Cirque du Soleil returns to its humble circus roots
Given that Stephane Roy is a renowned set designer known for his elaborate Cirque du Soleil creations, it would have been understandable if he was less-than-thrilled upon hearing about the back-to-basics premise of Kooza.
As with most Cirque productions, the set designer was among the first enlisted for the creative team that would eventually create the production, which was launched back in 2007.
Being among the first creative voices gave Roy, a Cirque veteran, a blank canvas of sorts. He didn't realize that director David Shiner, a clown and Broadway performer who is probably best known for originating the Cat in the Hat in Seussical, would take that term literally.
"The concept from David was a white curtain with nothing on stage," Roy says, sitting in a small meeting room at Cirque headquarters in Montreal. "I said, 'Let's start from there. But that's not going to happen.' "
In the world of Cirque du Soleil's extravagant productions, back-to-basics is a relative term. But talk to anyone involved in Kooza, which Cirque will bring to Calgary's Stampede Park from Sept. 16 to Oct. 24, and they will suggest the guiding principle behind the show was to get back to those early linchpins of Cirque.
"Circus. Circus. Circus," Roy says, about the marching orders given to the creative team by eccentric Cirque founder Guy Laliberte. "It's to be a funny show -- the real circus, what circus is all about. That's the premise from Guy Laliberte."
So Shiner -- an American performer well-versed in both Cirque and the rarefied art of clowning -- was enlisted to direct and Roy was given carte blanche to create the production's unique look.
And while he may have vetoed the white curtain idea, Roy said his initial aim was to create a more modest design than Cirque's previous big-top show, 2005's Corteo.
"When I designed Kooza, it was with 30 per cent of the budget of Corteo," says Roy. "It was for fun, we had the money. But we thought, 'Let's do a show with less money and do a real circus.' It was the opposite of the sky's the limit. We had a limit, and even at the end of the project I gave back $20,000 to Guy."
Given that Stephane Roy is a renowned set designer known for his elaborate Cirque du Soleil creations, it would have been understandable if he was less-than-thrilled upon hearing about the back-to-basics premise of Kooza.
As with most Cirque productions, the set designer was among the first enlisted for the creative team that would eventually create the production, which was launched back in 2007.
Being among the first creative voices gave Roy, a Cirque veteran, a blank canvas of sorts. He didn't realize that director David Shiner, a clown and Broadway performer who is probably best known for originating the Cat in the Hat in Seussical, would take that term literally.
"The concept from David was a white curtain with nothing on stage," Roy says, sitting in a small meeting room at Cirque headquarters in Montreal. "I said, 'Let's start from there. But that's not going to happen.' "
In the world of Cirque du Soleil's extravagant productions, back-to-basics is a relative term. But talk to anyone involved in Kooza, which Cirque will bring to Calgary's Stampede Park from Sept. 16 to Oct. 24, and they will suggest the guiding principle behind the show was to get back to those early linchpins of Cirque.
"Circus. Circus. Circus," Roy says, about the marching orders given to the creative team by eccentric Cirque founder Guy Laliberte. "It's to be a funny show -- the real circus, what circus is all about. That's the premise from Guy Laliberte."
So Shiner -- an American performer well-versed in both Cirque and the rarefied art of clowning -- was enlisted to direct and Roy was given carte blanche to create the production's unique look.
And while he may have vetoed the white curtain idea, Roy said his initial aim was to create a more modest design than Cirque's previous big-top show, 2005's Corteo.
"When I designed Kooza, it was with 30 per cent of the budget of Corteo," says Roy. "It was for fun, we had the money. But we thought, 'Let's do a show with less money and do a real circus.' It was the opposite of the sky's the limit. We had a limit, and even at the end of the project I gave back $20,000 to Guy."
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