July 3, 2023
By Kristen Nevarez Schweizer
I am a former theatre marketer, and defining a show in one sentence is my habit. Word combinations tumbled through my brain like the acrobats onstage as I watched The 7 Fingers’ Passengers. A stylized, cathartic circus? Modern-dance-meets- storytelling-gymnasts? Then the adjectives stopped. So did my breath. One cannot worry about adjectives when witnessing the suspension of gravity.
The 7 Fingers was founded in 2002 to redefine the circus by stripping down the spectacle to its thrilling essence. The seven founders set out to tell stories with death-defying acrobatics and life-affirming theatricality, and they have succeeded spectacularly. Today they have a new center in the heart of downtown Montreal and international performances, including the tour now playing at The Old Globe.
Passengers takes place on trains. The locomotive is sometimes in motion, sometimes stalled, and often in the in-between space of a train station when it is both arriving and departing. Through physical feats, contemporary music, and bits of monologue, the troupe brings the audience into the tenuous risk and adrenaline of travel through space, time, and life. At Passengers, adults feel childlike wonder and grown-up angst.
The show has many hallmarks of the Big Top, but players – such as Mandi Orozco – appear to be her own ringmaster when navigating emotion and aerial silks. Skipping the gazey glamour of Cirque du Soleil’s rhinestone leotards with vintage looks and austere, side-sculpting lighting dignifies the artists and elevates the art form.
As an industry person, seeing a Monday audience give a standing ovation to the point of an encore bow was thrilling. Passengers is a triumph. The train departs – moving next to Seattle Repertory Theatre – on July 30, 2023. Climb aboard before it’s too late.
