★★★★★

Adelaide Frinte. Cirquework. Yusaku Mochizuki. MOA in Gluttony. 21Feb 2025

 

Once you’ve seen one Nouveau Cirque show, you’ve seen them all, right? Wrong!

 

YOAH is a brilliant blend of cirque and physical theatre, at once moving, entertaining and simply breathtaking.

 

YOAH’s five performers deliver an exquisitely simple silent narrative following a young woman’s quest for fulfillment. The young woman’s light, hooded attire evokes innocence and misery in equal measure.

 

The opening silks act, masterfully performed by our protagonist, Tsumugi Masui, propels the young woman into a strange, dark place inhabited by four rather sinister, black-clad, traditional Kasa hatted diabolo wizards.

The encounter takes the young woman deeper into this world where light seems to lead her on.

The diabolo wizards possess their own powers, each seeming to manifest different stages in the quest.

 

Masui’s presence throughout, linking each episode, ensures Artistic Director Yusaku Mochizuki’s narrative continuity, while the precision of each act, performed with variously great emotion, gravitas, humour, and energy is driven by Jin Takemoto’s taiko drum influenced (sometimes almost medieval) score. Naoki Inui and Yuuka Nakashima’s choreography links everything elegantly and effectively, while Go Ueda’s superb lighting and Hiroyuki Nakatsukasa’s dazzling animations create stunning backdrops.

 

It turns out Mochizuki, the Artistic Director, is also a diablo master; he creates a dynamic dazzling beginning to the quest.

 

Kyle Fowler’s cloud swing is breathtaking, while Tomohiro Morita’s clown and juggling act brings joy to the narrative.

 

The high point (excuse the pun) of the both the narrative and show is Yuya Takatori’s incredibly unnerving, lofty chair balancing act!

 

A flurry of diabolo madness, executed with great pizazz by Mochizuki and Morita elevates the tone and energy of the show towards its climax where Masui comes full circle, now a vibrant, alive woman, on the silks.

 

This is a great opportunity to see a superb example of modern circus with no sexualized or agenda driven content. Visually, it is a work of art!

 

And one thing is certain, the Cirquework artists are at the top of their game!

 

Go, see it!

 

John Doherty

 

When: 21 Feb to 23 Mar

Where: MOA in Gluttony

Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au