Traces

Les 7 Doigts de la Main
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
(2010)

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In 2007 Traces was the talk of the Fringe and it now returns to Edinburgh after sell-out seasons on the West End, New York and Paris.

Les Doigts de la Main, from Montreal, have lost none of their edginess.

The joy of the piece is that the jaw-dropping stunts are not the work of leotard-clad steely mouthed circus automatons but exuberant young performers whose just off-the-street look means an immediate bond with the audience.

It is a great example of enthusiasm spreading from the stage to the auditorium, there were clearly some people who had seen the show last time round but also many new fans were created and from a wonderfully large age range.

The group is playful, talented but most of all very tight; the show flowed together well with little need for verbal communication and when things went wrong they were never thrown.

The different parts of the show not only flowed together well but they were also very well ordered, breathtaking stunts like climbing and diving down the twin poles followed by comic pieces such as a dance with a dirty book and an armchair.

Every member of the group demonstrated their own distinct skills and personalities, an overhead microphone descends to allow dialogue and the audience was charmed by their wit as well as their physical ability.

Philip Rosenberg and Geneviève Morin performed beautiful solo acts, which were the most moving parts of the piece, but the sheer coolness of Antoine Carabiner-Lepine and his wheel was the most memorable.

Hopefully we will see more of this company at future Edinburgh festivals; they certainly have no shortage of fans.

Reviewer: Seth Ewin

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