The circus has come to town!
In a whirl of red cabaret twirls, Malo and the Moon Maiden opened at the National Arts Festival on Thursday in Makhanda.
It is family-friendly fun with acrobatics, a bit of pyrotechnics and an overarching message to stand up to bullies and be kind.
My little cuzzies, sitting next to me as I write this, agree.
They are five and eight, and watching the show through their eyes was an absolute delight.
Malo and the Moon Maiden tells the story of Malo the Clown and his eternal devotion to Melodia Luna, the celestial Moon Maiden, set against the backdrop of a once-glorious circus faded by time, the programme says.
Written and directed by Janice Honeyman, the story of the old circus comes alive with a cast of bendy and fit circus folk, they perform across the land under the tyranny of the evil ringmaster’s hunger for fame and fortune.
The show is a musical, and they all have fantastic voices. The backing track could be turned down slightly so we can hear their live singing more clearly — my ears and eyes scrunched up in protest during the big numbers.
Jonty Perks, eight, from Johannesburg, said: “It was fun, because it looked realistic, it felt like being at the real circus.
“When the girl was in the cage and the strong man had to get her out, it was weird and cool.
“I would tell my friends to go and watch the show. I think it’s teaching people not to be bullies.”
His sister, Chloe, five, said: “It was very, very, good. I liked the part when the Moon Lady went round and round in the sky holding onto the rope.
“It was acrobatics, I think it’s teaching people how to do clown stuff. I want to take my best friend, Gray, I think he would like the parts with the Moon Lady and her costumes too.”
The production of nine artists stars Craig Morris as Malo, who they described as “cool, the best, he was silly, second best”.
Second best to Claudia Moruzzi, who dazzles in a glittery outfit and ballet shoes to match, they called them her “moon clothes”.
She is a master of the aerial arts, just like her bio says.
The cast are all part of the circus, the “back-up stage singers”, a Strong Man, a bendy lady called Ella Sticks, and a funny donkey called ... Donkey? All three of us have forgotten his name, woops. But they loved him.
“At first I thought it was a bunny cause he ate carrots, but then I noticed the feet,” Jonathan said.
The evil ringmaster, performed by Yahto Kraft, was a “bad, bad man”.
“He was very bad. I didn’t like it when he was cracking the whip,” Chloe said.
Jonathan added: “But it was funny when he went up in the space rocket! He must’ve felt so cold.
“The strongman was walking around on the ball with fire on sticks, twisting around, doing cool stuff. Why did the Moon Lady want to stay up there when she was such a good performer?”
He recognised the sadness, the longing of two people who love each other, but can’t be together.
She is from the stars, and Malo the Clown is meant to make people laugh, here on the ground.
And so he returns to bring joy back into the dusty, old, high-top.
Morris is a physical theatre master, who has been coming to the National Arts Festival since 1992 and has received several Ovation Awards for his productions.
Notably, he was awarded the prestigious Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival in 2015 for his performance in Johnny Boskak is Feeling Funny.
To see him as a “classic sad clown” with so much heart, and gentle kindness, I hope the audiences will be a bit braver and participate enthusiastically in the participation — cause it’s fun.
The small child sitting next to me got it, he did a few false start claps expecting others to pitch in. I tried to generate some big “adult claps” to reassure him he did in fact get the right cues.
It’s lighthearted, it’s us going ‘Wooo!’ while making a ‘Mexican wave’ across the Guy Butler Theatre.
Your Oupa might take a nap during the slow bits, but the kids will leave happy and bright-eyed.
Daily Dispatch
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