Three acrobats, a classical singer and a pianist provoke the audience in Strach, a fear song, by asking the following question: how can we (co)exist with our fears?

Fear is present when male characters wearing dog masks engage in a contest to approach the female character and then gather to pursue her; when one character threatens another with a large sharp object; when a person in the audience is invited to test the limits of her body in an acrobatic move. The interaction with the audience is essential in some situations. In fact, if the audience fails to participate, soprano Julie Calbete may fall to the ground while singing Leonard Cohen’s “Dance me to the end of love”.

The lyrical voice acts as a friendly presence for the audience. After all, Strach seeks to rescue values like trust and tolerance for differences. “Capitalism places us in competition in a world that only gives voice to the rich. We used to be afraid of death, now we are afraid of life. This isn’t normal. We need to embrace our fears and the fears of others in order to build something new,” says director Patrick Masset.

Strach won the 2018 Brussels Critics’ Award for Best Circus Performance.

Direction and concept: Patrick Masset
Cast: Airelle Caen, Alice Noël, Denis Dulon and Guillaume Sendron
Singer: Julie Calbete
Producer: T1J
Producer in Brazil: Circus Produções
Executive producer: Paulo Aliende

The Americas Première