Review: Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo at RAC Arena

Cirque du Soleil present Corteo at RAC Arena
Saturday, August 9, 2025

It’s one of the more elaborate productions ever staged at the Arena.

With an enormous stage and production cutting through the middle of the venue to create mirrored audiences facing one another, it’s not quite in the round, but that’s about the closest reference point.

Corteo is the surreal story of Mauro, a clown watching his own funeral march. The plot is loose, but the clowning around is dialled up to the point that this celebration of life may be the most fun and purely joyful Cirque du Soleil production yet.

There was so much flying from chandeliers in the opening act that Sia would’ve been jealous, as aerialists representing past lovers performed death-defying feats.

Trampolines designed like beds provided childlike fun for performers to jump and bounce on acrobatically from one to the other, as angels flew overhead. “Those wings are for me?” Mauro asks one. “I’m already dead?”

Cyr Wheel was an early highlight as performers spun rapidly close to the ground in giant hoops. Not to be outdone, a contortionist showed off incredible control and hyper-flexibility, leaving mouths agape.

With more than 15 acts, there was space for the unique, such as the Teeterboard chapter, effectively a seesaw sending performers skyward; the Acrobatic Ladder drew gasps of awe from the audience as an acrobat climbed his way into the heavens; while the amazing Helium Dance proved popular for its crowd involvement as a tiny clowness floated up each side of the audience with the aid of giant balloons, asking us to push her along if she ever descended back to our fingertips.

But it’s not a circus without juggling and clowns, and in the case of Corteo, these were opportunities to create wonder in the unusual, whilst finding weirdness and awe in the mundane.

A personal favourite coined Teatro Intimo saw a troupe of clowns attempt to perform Romeo and Juliet badly, with lustful infidelity and disastrous results, while a similarly hilarious skit (simply titled Golf) saw a hapless giant attempt to play golf with a sneaky golf ball, played with glee by another performer whose head acted as the ball popping back and forth through the stage floor.

The finale, Tournik, returned to aerial feats as performers flew around the high bars in perfect unison. Spectacular to say the least, it was a final firework before Mauro flew across the sky on a bicycle, reminiscent of ET but with angel’s wings, as we waved goodbye.

Troupes of villagers, mostly clowns of sorts, rejoiced in his ascension like the kind of funeral you’d wish for your own. A celebration of life, death, love, and everything in between, Corteo is only on for a few more days. Take someone you love.

HARVEY RAE

Photos by MajaPrgomet, Johan Persson, Aldo Arguello