Theater News

Cirque Du Soleil to Bring Varekai and Saltimbanco to London in 2010

A scene from Varekai
(© Rick Diamond)
A scene from Varekai
(© Rick Diamond)

Multi award-winning Canadian circus company Cirque du Soleil, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, will launch its 14th annual London season at the Royal Albert Hall, where its Varekai, first seen here in 2008, runs from January 5 to February 14. Later in the year, Saltimbanco launches a new arena tour from Sheffield Arena on May 20.

Taking its name from the Romany gypsy word for “wherever”, Varekai is set deep within a magical forest, at the summit of a volcano, as a young man sets off an absurd adventure in the kaleidoscopic world populated by fantastical creatures.

Saltimbanco premiered in Montreal in 1992 and was first seen at the Albert Hall in 2002 and last in the UK on an arena tour in 2004. It’s billed as a “celebration of life”, offering up a new vision of urban living, full of optimism and joy, kaleidoscopically conveyed through voice, movement and music. Following Sheffield, Saltimbanco visits Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin and Nottingham, before concluding its 2010 UK dates at London’s Wembley Arena from July 28 to August 1.

For more information, visit www.whatsonstage.com.