Cirque du Soleil Performs at The Macallan Distillery in Scotland

The Macallan Distillery, located greater than 150 miles north of Edinburgh, isn’t any simple place to get to. It takes three hours by automobile, extra if by prepare. However the surroundings, this being Scotland — a lush nation with extra sheep than there are folks — is most definitely well worth the multi-hour, multi-leg expedition. Particularly in case your blood sort, like mine, is Scotch. 

So it was with nice shock that the distillery, for its 2 hundredth anniversary, introduced that it was celebrating this marquee yr with a limited-run Cirque du Soleil efficiency in its decidedly distant property. The logistics alone can be incomprehensibly complicated, however apparently, it was a plan they’d had within the works since earlier than the pandemic, as early as 2019. 

“We’ve been speaking with Cirque du Soleil for in all probability 5 years. And The Macallan has its high quality ethos and the best way we make whisky is our coronary heart and our core. However we like to be inventive and we love to inform our story in numerous methods,” stated Rachel Walter, head of operations for The Macallan. “There was an actual match. However there was additionally this deal with nature and a way of place and habitats and environmental renewal in a variety of their storytelling that actually clicked with us. And we began to discover this concept. Wouldn’t this be a extremely cool, enjoyable method to inform a narrative?”

And what enjoyable certainly. 

The efficiency, titled Cirque du Soleil Spirit, was the corporate’s first totally immersive expertise, set in one of many distillery’s 21,000-square-foot warehouses, a brief stroll from Easter Elchies Home, which is The Macallan’s ancestral residence. 

“At 150 friends per night time, it’s a possibility for us to create issues which might be totally different, create the proximity, showcase the virtuosity of our characters,” stated Marie-Hélène Delage, director of creation at Cirque du Soleil. “We’re connecting the tradition of Scotland, connecting the Highlands and the historical past of The Macallan — not creating one thing that’s historic or primarily based on folklore, however creating a brand new story from the Highlands with sensory expertise.”

Inside, the viewers was inspired to stroll across the darkened area to discover and even paint at one of many artwork “labs.” A number of acts had been occurring directly. Stretch out your arms and also you grazed a performer, it’s that shut. There was aerial silk, hair suspension, tightwire, contortion, juggling, and hoop diving. There was a recreation of the River Spey, revered for its position in whisky manufacturing. There was Flamenco dancing and bagpipes. After which, the pièce de résistance: a golden oak tree affixed with drams of The Macallan for viewers members to take and revel in. 

“With a format in place that took into consideration circulation, surroundings motion, and efficiency area, three months had been spent creating the idea right into a mechanically possible resolution. Fabrication took a mean of two months and set up took 3 1/2 weeks,” a spokesperson from Cirque du Soleil stated. “The River Spey mattress is a vinyl-lined trough outfitted with industrial pumps to cycle the water from one finish to the opposite; basically a fountain system that’s assembled in place. The primary challenges had been configuring the modular staging system to the curved profile of the Spey, offering the structural framework to help 15 tons of water, and making the consequences appear to be a flowing river.”

And whereas every thing was one thing to marvel at — contortionists and all — probably the most spectacular factor about such an immersive expertise was its logistics. There have been 20 efficiency artists throughout 10 nations. There have been 15 designers and 69 backstage arms, excluding meeting and disassembly. There have been 31 impossibly intricate costumes. And that’s not even considering how monumental quantities of constructing supplies had been introduced in to construct the set — or the sheer planning it required to feed everybody concerned. 

In essence, it was a spectacular feat of artistry and manufacturing. Whereas The Macallan gained’t reveal particulars, the model has signed a multi-year partnership with Cirque du Soleil, that means there shall be extra celebrations to come back.