I had a chance to sit with the artistic director and a member of the cast to discuss 'Kooza' and the return of Cirque to the Santa Monica Pier (It hasn't been there in 10 years).
KOOZA is a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil® that combines two circus traditions—acrobatic performance and the art of clowning. The show highlights the physical demands of human performance in all its splendor and fragility, presented in a colorful way that emphasizes bold slapstick humor.
“KOOZA is about human connection and the world of duality, good and bad,” says the show’s writer and director David Shiner. “The tone is fun and funny, light and open. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s very much about ideas, too.”
The show starts with the Trickster bursting onto the scene like a jack-in-the-box in front of The Innocent, and that’s just the first of many surprises to come. The Innocent’s journey brings him into contact with a panoply of comic characters such as the King, the Trickster, the Clowns, and his Mad Dog. Between strength and fragility, laughter and smiles, turmoil and harmony, KOOZA explores themes of identity, recognition and power. The show is set in an electrifying and exotic visual world full of surprises, thrills, chills, audacity and total involvement.
The name KOOZA is inspired by the Sanskrit word “koza,” which means “box,” “chest” or “treasure,” and was chosen because one of the underlying concepts of the production is the idea of a “circus in a box.”
KOOZA features an international cast of 54 artists including 6 musicians and 2 singers.
Tickets for Santa Monica performances of KOOZA are available online exclusively to Club Cirque members starting today. For free subscription, visit Cirque Club. General on-sale tickets available here.