‘Water circus’ hopes to make splash in Memphis
Can a water circus make a splash in the age of the pandemic?
That’s the hope of the organizers of Cirque Italia, a traveling performance troupe with its own unique booty call, which comes in the form of what a press release calls “an exhilarating expedition in search of a pirate’s booty!”
The water circus is set to pitch its tent — its “grand, swirling White and Blue tent,” in the words of a publicity brochure — for eight shows from July 23-26 in the parking lot outside Wolfchase Galleria.
According to Charles Herwig, public relations and media representative for the Florida-based entertainment company, Cirque Italia will bring close to 20 performers to Wolfchase, including contortionists, aerialists, archers, balancers, a clown, “a hair-hang act” and others, many of whom will be all wet — literally — as they enact “an epic pirate adventure” and “search for buried treasure” with a 35,000-gallon tank serving as their “water stage.”
“You will see swashbucklers balancing upside down on a rum barrel, juggling knives, and even one having a runin with a mermaid,” according to a Cirque Italia press release. “Your jaws will be dropped and you will be hanging on the edge of your seats with our suspenseful Crossbow act and our dangerous Wheel of Death performances.”
In addition, “Cirque Italia continues to contribute to the modernization of the performing arts and the circus industry by abiding by a strict animal-free policy,” the release states.
Cirque Italia — which has been in the Memphis area several times before — had stopped performing for a while, but returned to the road in June. Herwig said the company sets up enough seating for 1,200 spectators per show, but “we are taking social distancing very seriously.” He said about half to a third of the seats will be made unavailable, based on local health regulations relating to the spread of the coronavirus.
If hardly as famous as Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Italia, founded in 2012, now has three shows in operation across the U.S. at any given time, Herwig said. The show coming to Memphis represents the founding troupe, he said.
Show times are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 23; 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 24; and 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 25-26. Tickets start at $10 each and can be purchased in advance by calling 941-704-8572 or visiting cirqueitalia.com.