Last night I went down to Spiegelworld to see the production of La Vie. Billed as a burlesque circus in purgatory, it features extremely skilled circus performers who are trying to sort out if they go to heaven or hell after death.
At least, that’s the premise. There were only one or two acts that really followed through on that idea. It’s a solid show, but only in places does it go beyond spectacle. Those places, I have to say, were worth seeing.
In particular, Isabelle Chasse, a contortionist aerialist, who plays a 15-year old crazy girl. Her first number is performed on a hospital gurney while wearing a straitjacket. It is witty, breathtaking work that totally works at conveying her character.
Later, she does an astonishing routine in the air, representing her attempt to escape from an asylum with sheets. It is angular, intense and unlike anything I have seen. This girl uses the twisting of her body to represent the landscape of her mind and she can act. Really, astonishing work. I was mesmerized.
