Twenty-five or so years ago, my ‘wife to be’ was flatting with a friend and I visited.

Often.

The lovely friend had a lovely daughter who was about six years old, and, for some reason that escapes me now, she always called me ‘Party Hat’, We had fun as a group and on one occasion we were watching TV and the show we were watching had got a bit violent and car chasy and she was worried about me. Coming from a family of experienced and talented artists the youngster was concerned that I might be frightened by what I was watching so she put my heart at ease by telling me, ‘Don’t worry, Party Hat, it’s just stunts’.

Last evening, as we settled into our seats on the balcony of the Rangatira Room at Q Theatre ready to take in Cirque Alfonse’s much-travelled production of Animal, we find, sitting next to us, that same young lady, all grown up and living abroad, and about to share with us a show that was – you guessed it – all about stunts.

Stunts of all shapes and sizes ranging from the thoroughly outlandish, through absolutely breathtaking, to downright bloody dangerous.

Stunts.

It was astonishing that the only things broken over the seventy minutes duration were three brown eggs.

Described as a show ‘full of pure joy and unpredictability, brought to the stage by the most wholesome troupe of carnies you’ve ever seen’ it’s exactly that. It’s capricious, whimsical, riotously funny, relentless and thoroughly charming. Its non-stop infectious energy presented in ways I’ve seldom experienced and the afterglow includes the need, in my case, to defrag the brain simply to remember it all.

Founded in 2005 by Antoine Carabinier-Lépine and his father Alain, Cirque Alfonse is an intergenerational circus made up of family and friends from the Carabinier-Lépine clans who hail from the little town of Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez, Québec. In just twenty years, this rural-raised collective has toured the biggest cities in the world with their rural and carnival-inspired acts and their truly authentic circus style. The company members play their own instruments – keyboards, various noise-generating percussion (some conventional, some less so), horns, saxophone, guitar, banjo – and song after song after song is seamlessly woven into the ongoing action and all are performed in the most delicious Quebecois dialect.

Not being in English strangely contributes to the show’s accessibility if that makes any sense at all.

These carnies really know their business having all grown up in rural Quebec, Animal is an affectionate tribute to growing up on a farm. The cast flip farm life on its head – hens one minute, roosters too, sheep, cows – and I’ll never be able to look at a chicken in the same way ever again.

The acrobatics are jaw-dropping in their range and complexity and in the ease with which they are executed. Every member of the nine strong team is an acrobat, a musician, a clown, and a new friend we’ve only just met. It’s infectious and there is no antidote. You just have to sit there and enjoy it. There’s juggling (everything from eggs to the most astonishing giant cowbells), a bit of rustic dancing, plenty of silly humour, and even a tractor doing wheelies, all set to an irresistible live soundtrack of ‘agricultural funk’.

It’s certainly a barnyard-themed farm life scenario, but not as we know it, Jim. I can’t see any Kiwi cocky fronting on ‘Country Calendar’ with anything like this, despite having all the raw materials  There’s some peculiar livestock too, and even a mechanical bull, all brought to us by this multi-generational family of performers, from the super young to the sprightly, who really do know how to put on a show. It’s edgy, often daring, and hand clappingly great.

There are two especially memorable scenes,

The first that immediately finds its way to front of mind (there are so many) is the giant cow bell juggling – like GIANT cowbells the like of which Waikato or Taranaki rugby has never seen, and they’re juggled between three performers in complex and dangerous patterns engendering one of only two breathless audience silences throughout the entire show.

Absolutely outstanding stuff.

The other was one of those moments that catch you off guard – a tall metal pole (a la pole dancing) appears, and a performer shimmies up to the top taking some impressive classic pole dancing poses but it’s a bit of a ‘seen that all before’ moment. In fact, I caught myself thinking exactly that ‘yep, good, but nothing special, let’s move on’ – until I realised that the pole was balanced on the shoulder of one of the men and that he wasn’t holding onto it. Suddenly, what had seemed a bit ho hum became an absolute highlight of the evening.

Courage, strength, and daring.

Oh, and I mustn’t fail to mention the dancing chickens, the unexpected appearance of a wee baby (real), and the magnificent mechanical bull.

Okay, that’s more than two.

Overall, there was a sense of Yasger’s Farm about it all, a hint of Woodstock and the 60’s in the clothing and in the quality of the music. Intentional of otherwise, it was a sweet touch, and I liked it very much.

Two more nights to see this amazing show before it travels to Dunedin for the Dunedin Arts Festival. If it’s booked out at Q, line up for any cancellations.

You can have a drink in the beautifully appointed bar while you wait.

Celebrate quality art, you deserve it.

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