list.co.uk/festival My Land | FESTIVAL FEATURES
BOUND FOR THE PROMISED
LAND Hungarian company Recirquel are a long way from old- school circus. Artistic director Bence Vági talks to Claire Sawers about his take on the art form and the stripped- back, muscularity of My Land, the company’s new show
A t the grand old age of 36, Bence Vági is already more than ten years into his retirement. As a dancer, anyway. He’s now the artistic director and choreographer for the Hungarian circus company that he set up in 2012. There are no hula- hooping seals or Krusty the Clown types in Recirquel though, a company spreading a new wave of circus from East-Central Europe. Instead, the set for My Land, a new show coming to the Fringe, is stripped back to a soil dancel oor and spotlights. The costumes are a
barely there collection of l esh-coloured underwear and Illuminati-style hoods, and the music is a sparse mix of folk song and moody classical melodies. With such a minimal setup – no safety nets, no tightrope, almost no props – there’s nothing to distract from the performers; seven freakishly strong, bizarrely weightless Ukrainian acrobats. ‘Ukraine produces world-class acrobats, but they are rarely the focus of a show. They are in the background, or behind masks,’ explains Vági, taking a seat after doing some TV interviews, and also looking pretty >>
1–8 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 29