By Mike Hoban
Passengers – Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Shana Carroll. Music, Lyrics, Sound Design, and Arrangements by Colin Gagné. Presented by ArtsEmerson and performed by The 7 Fingers at Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, through October 13
Montreal-based The 7 Fingers returns to the Cutler Majestic Theatre to kick off ArtsEmerson’s 10th season, and the latest offering from the circus arts troupe, Passengers, elevates the genre from mere circus performance to genuine art. While one surmises that this has long been the aim of the company, as someone who has seen most of the half-dozen 7 Fingers shows presented by ArtsEmerson in recent years, this is the one that truly fulfills that vision. And this in no way demeans previous shows. In addition to the oohs, ahhs, and nerve-wracking aerial stunts that any good circus arts show provides, 7 Fingers always reaches for something more in an artistic sense, but Passengers is in its own stratosphere.
Passengers masterfully combines multimedia, dance/movement and a dynamite score while seamlessly integrating the circus components into a sparsely worded narrative that honestly conveys the themes of journey and transition – symbolized by train travel. For those not familiar with The 7 Fingers, I have jokingly described them to friends as a “kind of Black Box Cirque de Soleil with millennials”. Like Cirque, 7 Fingers builds a show around a theme, with past shows exploring a post-apocalyptic world (Traces); food and relationships (Cuisine & Confessions) and family histories (Reversible). 7 Fingers co-founding artistic director Shana Carroll (who also directed Passengers) creates storylines by drawing from the artist’s personal lives, and while the stories in Passengers are more impressionistic than literal, they’re compelling, especially when combined with the other artistic elements.
What separates this show from the others – and from Cirque du Soleil and similar shows for that matter – is that the circus arts are not necessarily the primary focus of the show, but instead serve as a kind of main ingredient to this feast for the senses. In a pre-run interview last month with performers from Passengers, aerial silks/trapeze artist Sabine van Rensburg told Theater Mirror, “I think the 7 Fingers really try to break the (circus arts show) mold of “act/link, act/link” – and that is what is most striking about this particular production. The circus performances are still plenty compelling (particularly the Russian Cradle/Hand-to-hand aerial performance by Samuel Renard and Louis Joyal, van Rensburg’s aerial silk performance, Maude Parent’s contortions and the mesmerizing Hula Hoop work done by Freyja Wild), but it is the blend of music and movement as well as some mimed observational humor that makes this show soar above the conventional.
The dance/movement throughout the entire show – even when they’re just moving circus apparatus – is beautiful to watch, as the performers bring a kind of ethereal grace to everything they do, and many of the sequences have a real sensual quality to them as well. The music, including interesting covers of Radiohead’s “Creep” (sung by a female singer in a nice twist), Tom Wait’s ‘Burma Shave”, and W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” drives much of the action in a meaningful way. The selections, aided by the amazing sound system at the Cutler Majestic, are mind-blowingly good, and even include a number crooned by the multi-talented Parent. With Passengers, 7 Fingers has truly put the ‘art’ in circus arts. See it. For more information and tickets, go to: https://artsemerson.org/
