posttheater

"Welcome to the Golden Circus! My name is Toto. Please keep your umbrella up, I do not want you to get wet!"

The Last Circus is a solo performance, in which the audience members’ active interaction with the live performer, the environment, and the video projection is absolutely essential for the performance to take place.
The performance takes place in a black box where there is no architectural separation between the audience and the stage. Four audience members are admitted per performance and each performance lasts for about 10 minutes. The audience members will first enter “the changing room” where they are asked to wear raincoats and rain boots. Two umbrellas equipped with Infrared LEDs are also distributed to them. Then they will enter “the arena” where the actual performance takes place. This is where the audience members will meet the character Toto, who will guide them throughout the performance.
The audience will discover the story of “The Last Circus” by exploring the space, by interacting with the video projection with the umbrella as the interface, and by building a relationship with Toto.

<Story>
The time is the future and the place is an unspecified urban landscape of constant rain. Radical advancements in technology have tremendously impacted human life-style lending the word “reality” a new meaning. Spurred on by new developments in simulation technology, audiences have deserted “passive” activities in favor of interactive experiences where the very term audience no longer applies. In art and entertainment, live performance has been declared dead. Performing artists, as a result, find themselves on the street.
Toto, our protagonist, was once the proud owner of The Golden Circus. With twenty-two members and a tent the likes of which no one had ever seen, this circus was not just any circus. It was a sight to behold. Some people even used to call it “poetic.” Renowned for its technical excellence and refined design, The Golden Circus was indeed so popular, Toto had to hold extra shows on weekdays to accommodate the great demand.
Hard as it is to believe, though, fame, glory and success are now things of the past. Little by little, audiences dwindled. Troupe members chose different, more lucrative careers such as content providers for simulation agencies. And before he knew it, Toto found himself alone with Halo, a tightrope acrobat. When the government regime officially announced the death of performance, The Golden Magic lost what little property it still had. The magnificent tent was taken down. Toto despaired. And so did Halo.
But Toto and Halo could not simply give up. True, they had no tent, no troupe, and no audience even, but they had passion. When all others had left, they stayed on still, in the square where the tent used to be. Where else could they spend their lives? With an absolute determination, they decided to give it one more shot. The only way, they said, to win back the circus was to prove to the city official that the public still needs them. And so, they swore then and there to perform outside, every day, come rain or shine, in the now empty square where their tent once stood proudly.
These days, it rains constantly but Halo flips through the air on the tightrope while Toto approaches passersby: “Look at her marvelous movement! A real acrobat, really acrobatic!” But no one on the street is interested. They say nothing and quickly shuffle on. Toto and Halo say it must be the weather and they won’t ever give up. They’ll keep performing, dreaming of the day when a cheering, clapping crowd fills their empty square once more. Now only if the rain could stop…