Photo by John Arundel David Shiner, the writer and director of Cirque du Soleil's "Kooza."

 
BY JOHN ARUNDEL
Managing Editor

David Shiner's cool demeanor belies the circus clown he once was.

With a soft-spoken nature which contradicts the wacky antics he once demonstrated on circus stages around the world, he speaks in measured, soft tones, a few decibels above the silence of a mime, something he also was.

But there's one subject which clearly draws out the effusive nature of the Boston native, and that's the show he conceived, wrote and now directs, "Kooza," the new Cirque du Soleil spectacle that opens October 30 in the company's trademark yellow-and-gold Grand Chapiteau at National Harbor.

"The show is quite simple; it focuses on the artists and their skills," said Shiner last week, leaning forward in a high-backed chair at National Harbor's Sales Center. "It's more raw, it's more visceral. It's broad, physical slapstick comedy in the grand American comic tradition of Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello."

Unlike the more complex, darker shows of Cirque du Soleil's national tours, this show has a strong American rock influence to it, with a hint of Indian brass and Spanish horns drawn from Shiner's many trips to India and Spain.

A co-writer of Cirque's Euro-centric "Nouvelle Experience," Kooza is Shiner's American-centric conception, completely. "It doesn't pretend to be sophisticated," he said. "It appeals to everyone alike. It celebrates the artists with a lot of emotion."

But don't be mistaken. "Kooza" has many of the heart-stopping eye candy of its predecessors, from its daredevil high-wire, trapeze and unicycle acts to anatomy-defying contortionists.  "It's kind of a wink to the Walt Disney movie, Fantasia," Shiner said.

A lifelong comedian, mime and professionally-trained clown who once wrote shows for Broadway, Shiner said there's no secret to good clowning. "You're either funny or you're not," he said. "What makes somebody funny? It's all within."

The show finds Cirque at the top of its game, without the artsy or complicated comedic nature of some previous offerings. It tells the story of The Innocent, a melancholy loner in search of his place in the world. The Innocent's journey brings him into contact with a panoply of comic characters such as the King, the Trickster, the Pickpocket, and the Obnoxious Tourist and his Bad Dog.

"The show takes you along for a journey," he said. "But it's also silly and uncomplicated...You shouldn't need to think before you laugh."

Between strength and fragility, laughter and smiles, turmoil and harmony, Kooza explores the themes of fear, identity, recognition and power. Shiner said his show is set in an "electrifying and exotic visual world" full of surprises, thrills, chills, audacity and total involvement.

"The whole purpose of creating the show was to give people hope, to inspire them. It starts with the premise that being human is not so easy. We need each other...I wanted people to feel more connected by it," he said.

In many respects Kooza is a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil, combining two circus traditions, acrobatic performance and the art of clowning. It highlights the physical demands of human performance in all its splendor and fragility, presented in a colorful mélange which puts an emphasis on slapstick humor. "By the end you feel energized," he said. "You feel the energy of the trapeze artist"

Shiner briefly stops talking, appearing to look longingly for the right words at the shimmering Potomac River, which on a clear, crisp fall day is sending shards of sunlight into the conference room. "Kooza is also a celebration of the human spirit...What we can accomplish through training and competition."

With 53 performers drawn from 16 countries, Kooza showcases the talents of Russian, Ukrainian, French, Spanish, Mongolian, Indian and American artists, with the youngest performer, an 11-year-old Chinese contornist, still in school.

Kooza has massive technical demands. In the days before the show opens, 800 tons of tents and circus equipment will arrive by 61 container trucks from Boston, its last stop, and open up in a dusty field in Oxon Hill like a huge, bright canvas in front of the massive, 2,000 room Gaylord National Hotel. Performances will be held six days a week at 7 pm, with Mondays dark.

"We're building our own little village here," he said. "We have our own kitchen and our own little school."  Six of the pint-sized performers will attend classes in the morning, taught by Canadian teachers.

Despite a languid economy and a Presidential election based on who will occupy that famous house five miles north of here, Shiner said sales at National Harbor have been surprisingly strong. "This is all new. It's big. It's unique. It's interesting for us, the newness of it all," he said of the $4 billion mixed-use project, which opened its first phase in May. "We're thrilled to be coming here."

Kooza: Cirque du Soleil. Written and directed by David Shiner. (October 30 thru December 14. National Harbor, Oxon Hill, MD.; Two hours, 50 minutes. Tickets: $38.50-$90. Call (800) 678-5440 or go to www.cirquedusoleil.com).