WORKING UP YOUR APPETITE
Bringing the aesthetics of classical theater to the realm of the contemporary circus, the fearless performers of The 7 Fingers (also known as Les 7 Doigts) explore life’s big questions while preparing food on a set equipped with a functional kitchen. I first reviewed this astounding troupe’s Traces back in 2011. That was only their second show, but it was easy to sense the Montreal-based company would become a phenomenon. Now comes their latest creation, Cuisine & Confessions, which mixes circus arts, avant-garde dance, theater, and cooking-show satire.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica will present the internationally acclaimed intimate circus for four performances only February 16 to 18, 2017.
This show is storytelling through food: the sweet taste of childhood, of a summer breeze through a screen door or the hot-chocolate-dampened lips of a first kiss.
Life happens in the kitchen. Late night confessionals over tisane (an infusion, as of dried herbs) and a jar of Nutella. Elaborately choreographed family meals. Lessons learned, secrets exchanged, and bonds forged by our most visceral of senses. This remarkable collaboration of circus, avant-garde dance, spoken word, theater, and cooking-show comedy awaits you. Accompanying The 7 Fingers’ usual eye-popping flight of acrobatic choreography and pulsating music are the other three senses: the touch of hands in batter, the smell of cookies baking, the taste of roasted oregano, leading us through a span of times and countries; all the while a kitchen is our common meeting point.
All individuals are composed of ingredients, a unique recipe of blood memories. Cuisine & Confessions weaves the performers’ first person memories about the comestibles that are a part of their lives, with The 7 Fingers’ dazzling circus skills. And at the close, the audience leaves the theater nibbling the banana bread that has been cooking all evening.
The 7 Fingers was founded in 2002 by seven Montreal-based artists with the goal of making circus a transformative experience for audiences, and of developing shows in a collaborative creative process that nurtures new generations of circus artists. The company’s name is a twist on the French idiom “the five fingers of the hand,” used to describe distinct parts united tightly, moving in coordination towards one common goal. Their work is characterized by the combination of traditional acrobatics with elements of theater, skateboarding, basketball, and more.
photos by Alexandre Galliez
Cuisine & Confessions
The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts de la Main)
The Eli & Edythe Broad Stage
1310 11th St. in Santa Monica
Thursday, February 16 at 7:30
Friday, February 17 at 7:30
Saturday, February 18 at 2 and 7:30
for tickets, call 310.434.3200 or visit The Broad