BEHEMOTH, is a truly remarkable and entrancing show, from Compagnie Moon Café. Two performers Maggie Rusak and Ivy Blake first wrote their works in French and this is the first English premiere. The Circus Yard at The Level Park is a perfect setting for the performance but not just because both artists are highly skilled circus perfomers but also it creates a womb-like feel which is wrapped around audience and artists.
Despite competing with the loud fun fair alongside the venue Rusak and Blake immediately entrance us with their presence to tell two stories with one question “what the hell in my problem?”
The single voice of Maggie Rusak pierces the darkness as she appears in the audience stating “I’m not very well” and proceeds to document her search to find out what is ‘wrong’ with her as she suffers a cardiac incident. She goes from one medical expert to another, becoming more confused and manic, as they struggle with a diagnosis despite various drug and talking therapies. Ultimately the decision is delivered – she’s a hypochondriac which causes anxiety which could create heart issues. She’s come full circle within a world of confusion and desperation portrayed in equal measures of hilarity, tragedy and darkness.
Her situation erupts into frantic, manic and amazing juggling. Rusak is known for her distinctive style of foot juggling, performing all over the world, worked with companies such as The 7 Fingers (CAN) and was voted as one of the world’s top 10 jugglers.
A desperate need for food leads her to the discovery of only a ball of tofu in her fridge. She sniffs at it tentatively then takes a bite. The ensuing horror of finding she’s bitten in half a worm has terrible consequences. After crushing the worm under her foot she suffers the ultimate retribution as she is consumed herself by the annelids and she “ceases to exist”. She emerges as a vision in a white dress – beatific and bids us seemingly blissful fairwells as she leaves the auditorium.
Ivy Blake arrives joyful and thankful for everyone who has come to witness what appears to be an ominous, seemingly final conclusion to her psychological trauma. Her feet take control of her and move her around the space emerging in balletic forms which gains pace until she is running faster and faster until dropping to the floor. Her shirt becomes a cocoon from which she emerges, animal-like and naked from the waist up. She snarls as she crawls around the floor before she seems to becomes human in form once more and dressing whilst singing an achingly beautiful rendition of the Kate Bush classic ‘Running Up That Hill’. The desperation manifest in her pulling herself up onto the tight rope stretched across the stage. She dances rhythmically as performs remarkable high wire skills. She is a wire walker who graduated from the Centre Régional des Artsdu Cirque de Chambéry, ARC EN CIRQUE (FR) and is a current cast member in La Part Manquante by Compagnie Momentum (FR).
As she alights the wire there seems to be a return of her emotional pain and she reprises the song as she dons a blue tutu. Returning to the wire she performs elegant, balletic moves whilst shaking blue confetti from her skirt. On the tightrope she is supreme and at one with the world.
As she returns to the floor and the mic she becomes angry, monster-like furiously stamping into the ground. before exiting.
At this point Maggie Rusak’s vision in white returns, papal-like. She raises her arms and looks into the firmament as she appeals “I am ready” but no acknowledgement comes. The dress becomes a foil to her rythmic juggling as well a hood and a nun-like habit.
As the show comes to an end both performers are on the stage – there clearly are no answers to the big question “What the hell is my problem?” However we have been given insight into their internal demons and it is entrancing as well as disturbing.
There’s only a couple of performances left but I entreat you to make your way down to The Circus Yard to witness this remarkable piece of physical theatre and storytelling before it leaves.
The Circus Yard at The Level Park May 2-4 at 9pm; matinée May 4 at 2:30pm
