Julien Cottereau: Imagine Toi

There are magical moments galore in this wordlessly enchanting show by contemporary circus star Julien Cottereau. But just because you can do it all—play upright bass with an imaginary string of chewing gum, then slap out ‘Popcorn’ on your vocal chords, say—doesn’t mean self-editing isn’t necessary sometimes.

Think what Marcel Marceau described as “l’art du silence”, just sans the silence. It’s miming and clowning in a timeless tradition, but with live voice-generated audio embellishment, ingeniously conjuring the sound of all from a peeled banana to a growling monster lurking in the wings.

Audience participation is another element Cottereau adds masterfully – even if it doesn’t always go to plan. A small boy inspired to really get into the act of booting an imaginary ball about the stage beautifully captures the fantastical potency of great mime. The site of a poor lady almost reduced to tears of embarrassment at being made to play catwalk model, then later an old man paralysed by befuddlement as he’s taught to act the ogre in preparation for Cottereau’s heroic pièce de résistance, proves some minds are more fertile than others.

Luckily a stand-in, who’s either a natural or has done this before, comes to the rescue. But just as a neatly triumphant endpoint has been reached, a superfluous extra five minutes softens the buzz. Similarly to the bit when he delivers a coup de grâce to a dying dog, and the strange dream sequence when he gets trapped in a box (obligatory for mime shows?), it could have been shaved to let the really spellbinding stuff shine.