Cirque Du Soleil Will Return To The Royal Albert Hall With CORTEO in 2025

Corteo, the most enchanting arena production from Cirque du Soleil, is confirmed to take place at London's famed Royal Albert Hall from January 2025. Working jointly with the Royal Albert Hall and following consultation with seat holders, the venue will be reconfigured to host this entirely unique production with a stage that splits the hall into two halves and once again charm audiences in a whole new way. This unusual production, directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, first premiered in Montreal under the Big Top in April 2005. Since its creation, the show has amazed over 11 million spectators, in 22 countries, on 4 continents. Corteo will be presented at the Royal Albert Hall from 9 January 2025.

Corteo, which means cortege in Italian, is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown. The show brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth.
 
The clown's dreamlike imagination pictures his own funeral taking place in a carnival atmosphere, watched over by quietly caring angels. Juxtaposing the large with the small, the ridiculous with the tragic and the magic of perfection with the charm of imperfection, the show highlights the strength and fragility of the clown, as well as his wisdom and kindness, to illustrate the portion of humanity that is within each of us. The music turns lyrical and playful carrying Corteothrough a timeless celebration in which illusion teases reality.
 
In a Cirque du Soleil first, the stage is central in the arena and divides the venue from the Royal Albert Hall's organ in a straight line to the door 6 entrance, with each half of the audience facing the other half, giving a unique perspective not only of the show, but also a performer's eye view of the audience. An atmosphere like never seen before in Cirque du Soleil shows. The set curtains, inspired by the Eiffel Tower, and the central curtains, which were hand painted, give a grandiose feel to the stage. This sets the tone for the poetry of Corteo. It is also the heaviest show that Cirque du Soleil has bought to the Royal Albert Hall, suspending a massive 67 tonnes from the grid (equal to the weight of 11 elephants hanging from the ceiling). Over the past few years Cirque du Soleil has worked jointly with the Hall to install new anchor points to allow heavier shows to visit the historic venue. 
 
“We are thrilled to finally bring Corteo to the Royal Albert Hall. We are very grateful for the collaboration of the Hall's management team and their members for enabling the presentation of this extremely unique production. The extraordinary work that has gone into splitting the Royal Albert Hall in two halves will allow our audiences to experience one of our best loved productions as it was originally imagined. We cannot wait to present Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall as it has never been seen before.” Duncan Fisher, President - Touring Shows, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group.
 
“This is our 29th year welcoming Cirque du Soleil to the Royal Albert Hall, and this is the first time that we have been able to reconfigure the Hall like this, dramatically and uniquely changing the whole perspective within the auditorium. It is wonderful for the Hall to be used in this way and will without doubt be one of Cirque du Soleil's most extraordinary performances.” – Matt Todd, Director of Programming for the Royal Albert Hall  

 

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