A circus performance of illusions, tricks and amazing feats

When: 2nd August – 21st August 2011

Where: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, 2 Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

£: 15, 20 & 25 for midweek evenings; 17, 22 & 27 for Saturday evenings and matinees.

What is it?

Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée presents Le Cirque Invisible at London’s Southbank Centre, circus performance of illusions, tricks and amazing feats.

Charlie Chaplin’s daughter Victoria and her husband Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée return to London with Le Cirque Invisible, complete with costumed transformations, unicycles, rabbits, hats and singing knees.  The enchanting couple have been reviving classic magic tricks and creating their elaborate dreamscapes all over the world, evolving the show along with its audience.

Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée was born in Paris, where he worked as an actor with directors including Jean-Marie Serreau, Roger Planchon and Peter Brooke.  At the age of 25 he set up his own company and spent three years creating shows and appearing in films such as Muriel by Alain Resnais, Sweet and Sour, Piège and The Clowns by Fellini.  After moving into circus, he met Victoria and has been performing with her ever since.

Victoria Chaplin is an acrobat and a master of quick change acts.  She was born in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, and moved to Switzerland where she grew up studying dance and classical music.  As well as her work with Jean-Baptiste, she designed costumes with Lilian Boitel for La Symphonie du Hanneton, her son James’ show, which won them the Molière for best costumes in 2006, and choreographed and directed her daughter Aurélia’s show, L’Oratorio d’Aurélia.

Jean-Baptiste and Victoria have been performing together for over forty years. They started with Le Cirque Bonjour before creating Le Cirque Imaginaire and Le Cirque Invisible.  Their children, James and Aurélia Thiérrée, both performed with their parents and have gone on to independent performing careers.

Your chance to win!

Like the sound of  Le Cirque Invisible?  We have two pairs of tickets up for grabs.  For your chance to bag a pair of tickets simply send your name and email address to info@contrarylife.com, with ‘Le Cirque Invisible comp’ in the subject line.  The first names to be picked out of a hat will win and the closing date for entries is Tuesday 26th July 2011.

More info: Visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk.  Box office tel: 020 7960 4200.