Toruk – The First Flight is a Cirque du Soleil touring production, which has been playing in large arenas worldwide since December 2015. Unlike other stage shows from the Canadian acrobats, this production needs a big arena, not least to give the scenes scope and to enable to impressive visuals and lightning effects.
The Toruk production is inspired by James Cameron’s film Avatar, displaying a time before the events in the movie take place and telling a tale of the Na’vi people. There are four sequels planned for release between 2021 and 2027.
The story takes place on the fictional world of Pandora, the fifth moon of the gas giant Polyphemus, a plant that orbits Alpha Centauri A, the closest star system to Earth’s sun. Different regions of the planet are brought to life through computer aided digital effects, which work in tandem with the performers and music.
The touring production came to London at the end of June 2019, packing out several nights at London’s 20,000 capacity 02 Arena. It is show of multimedia projections, a soaring soundtrack, performers and puppets.
The show is a mixture of impressive technical effects, jaw-dropping acrobatics and some impressive puppetry, which rival War Horse in terms of realistic motion. Of the puppets, the most impressive is Toruk, which is the thematic character of the show and a species of airborne predatory animal.
Other Pandoran animals like Direhorse, the Austrapede, the Turtapede, and a Viperwolf, also make an appearance as large scale working models. Overall, the plot is straightforward, focusing on three characters who travel around Pandora to find five objects that will help prevent a catastrophe to the tree of souls, with the aid of the mighty Toruk.
The performers are equally impressive, engaging in a mix of tumbling, climbing an angled grid frame, swinging from trees, swinging from poles, and performing daring literal maneuvers at great height.
Toruk – The First Flight is an impressive show, the only downside being occasional cheesy re-recorded narration, which doesn’t add too much. The show needs to be seen on a big stage, and it is awarded 5 out of 5.
