Visual delight abound in IRIS A Journey Throught the world of cinema by Cirque du Soleil at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. Not least among them are 360 unusual props, many automated and motion-controlled, all crafted specificaly for this production. A quirky, vintage-looking camera dolly, for example, keeps with the unique interpretation of the world of early cinema that IRIS provides. But there’s a catch: It is topped with a working camera that projects live video. The piece serves as an acrobatic apparatus, too: artists wheel the seat to spin on their heads, and they flip through its tripod base.
“Props used in Cirque du Soleil shows tend to be a little different,” says Jared Peter, head of props. The versatile camera dolly is one of three “baby machines” created for IRIS by Anne-Séguin Poirier, the company’s Montreal-based props designer. Others include a roving spotlight and a trumpet-shaped gramophone speaker on tricycle wheels.
In development for three years, “They’re our prize props, little creatures that roam about the stage in the first part as kind of an ode to the beginnings of cinema,” Peter says. “They interact with the artists and other costume and prop elements of the show. We went through many, many revisions. It’s amazing how much time and how many people it took to make those pieces work.”
Every prop in IRIS is “a designer creation,” he adds “Nothing is off the shelf. Everything has been meticulously designed by Anne or has evolved via the builders and Anne collaborating together.” Originally from the San Francisco Bay area with a background in television, film and live theater, Peter joined Cirque du Soleil in 2005. He moved to Los Angeles to join the IRIS team after working on Cirque shows The Beatles LOVE at The Mirage in Las Vegas and Zaia in Macao, China. It’s a move, he says, that’s paid off “Constructing props for a Cirque du Soleil show is incredibly creative and rewarding.”
Read more about the props of IRIS here.
{ SOURCE: CirqueClub }
