Slava’s Snow Show promises a series of fantastic spectacles: a snow blizzard made of confetti that engulfs the audience; a giant spider web that forms on stage and wraps around the audience; and life-sized balls that bounce about the theater.
This feast for the senses — which runs at the National Theater in Taipei starting next Thursday and in Taichung starting on July 18 — should make for an impressive spectacle in light of the long string of reviews and critical acclaim that Snow Show has received since it started in 1993.
But what also drives this fantasy production is tragic comedy from a clown in a baggy yellow suit and red shoes — the show’s creator and star, Slava Polunin, one of Russia’s most well-known clowns.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SLAVA’S SNOW SHOW
Polunin and his troupe lead audiences through narratives that grow surreal with the aid of grand stage effects, music and the art of clowning. Though the storylines are non-linear, the clowns anchor the show with emotional depth — in one miming routine, Polunin’s trench coat comes to life and the two develop an affectionate bond, only to bid a sad farewell, as Polunin leaves his coat and boards a train.
Polunin’s clowning draws from theatrical expression and Russian avant-garde while touching upon a common predicament for clowns: being isolated in a strange and hostile world.
It is this world that inspires Polunin: “I love the art of clowning, full of poetry and insanity,” he wrote in an essay introducing his work.
He says he realized his dream of reviving the art by forming the Theatre of the Art of Modern Clowning in 1979. The theater, which is also considered Polunin’s school, became renowned for its mix of visual elements and “alternative clowning” and enjoyed overnight success during a visit to London in the 1980s.
This inspired Polunin to compile highlights from his theater’s repertoire to create Snow Show, which to date has been performed in front of more than 2.5 million people, in more than 30 countries.
The show has toured with Cirque du Soleil for its production of Alegria, and the influence continues to run both ways: Alegria still features excerpts from Snow Show, and a number of Polunin’s former students have been cast in Cirque du Soleil productions.
The association with Cirque du Soleil underlines Polunin’s larger passion for theater. On Snow Show’s Web site, he describes the theater he loves as one of “ritual magic and festive pageantry … games and fantasies that are the common creation of the audience and the people of the theater.”
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