Cirque Du Soleil- European Premiere Kurios, Royal Albert Hall, London

The Royal Albert Hall, London had the privilege of playing host to the European premiere of Cirque Du Soleil’s latest creation ‘Kurios – Cabinet of Curiosities’ which is a ‘Steampunk’ themed show with the stage designed by Stéphane Roy

Last weeks red carpet was a busy place to be with stars of the big screen, music, fashion and tv all attending the show, some donning amazing ‘Steampunk’ outfits. Probably the most eccentric being Queen’s guitar legend Brian May whose Willy Wonka meets 21st century Phantom of the Opera was brilliant. Other Stars who graced the carpet included Elizabeth Hurley and her son Damian, Jeremy Irons, David Jason, Dame Kelly Holmes and Leigh Francis.

‘Kurios – Cabinet of Curiosities’ is a delight to submerse yourself and the whole family in for a couple of hours with stunning acts that draw gasps of astonishment as well as laughter and applause from all with some pure comic genius sketches .

Michel Laprise, who has progressed from Cirque Du Soleil performer to this show’s writer and director takes the Cirque in new directions with Facundo Giminez’s comically slapstick ‘Invisible Circus’ and bizarrely brilliant Nico Baxias’s ‘Theatre of Hands’ which uses cameras and projections to bring us into various miniature worlds (including one lucky watchers head.)

Personal Highlights for us included the hand-balancing act, ‘Upside Down World’ in which a guest at a dinner party climbs up an ever-growing tower of chairs to reach a levitating candle, only to encounter his mirror image doing the same from a table suspended from the ceiling

Another favourite was the fast action packed ‘Acro Net’ which is mesmerising with the fast paced acrobats performing huge leaps, bounds and somersaults on the massive arena filling trampoline.

With yearly shows at the Albert Hall now a must, one can only surmise what the creative minds at Cirque Du Soleil will develop next, the answer will be of course a pure magical way to start 2024 !