Super-humans dazzle at Shakespeare

7 Fingers in Duel Reality/Photo by Zemi Photography

Unless you’ve lived with monkeys, you have never seen dance, acrobatics, leaps and bounds like this.

The gasps filled the hall at Shakespeare Theatre Company where members of the 7 Fingers troupe flew through the air hanging onto chains, ropes, poles and each other.

Breathtaking! 

Thrilling! 

Unbelievable! 

I have never seen anything like it: performers flying, quoting Shakespeare on the swing and soaring up, up and up to take flight, and they did! 

Michelle Hernandez and Gerardo Gutiérrez in Duel Reality's "Romeo and Juliet"/Photo by Zemi Photography

Flipping over and under, somersaulting, hanging upside down while they joined each other in air, zipping up and down as if they were monkeys swinging high on banana trees. 

The performers were ice skaters without ice, ballet dancers in the air, dancing pas de deux, ending with "Romeo and Juliet" (Gerardo Gutiérrez and Michelle Hernandez) as peace enveloped them and they moved back and forth on a swing, high in the air, their silhouettes contrasted against a sunset backdrop, a romantic ending after they had enraptured the audience who breathed a sigh of relief that no one had fallen, lost a limb, or stumbled (well, a teeterboarder a time or two for extra thrills).  

7 Fingers in Duel Reality/Photo by Emmanuel Burriel

The scariest of the performances had to be the "teeterboard" (or seesaw to those who teetered on them as children), the board bouncing back and forth as a man on each end leaped in the air somersaulting, maybe, 50 feet high before landing on the board again, his weight propelling the other man up into the great blackness of the stage.

Being off a millisecond can spell immediate injury; the hours spent rehearsing can only be guessed. (Teeterboarders in the troupe are Nino Bartolini, Einar Kling Odencrants, and Carlos Francos Péré.)

Notwithstanding (!) the greatest hula hooper you will ever see, Ashleigh Roper who, at one point twirled (I think it was) six hoops (I lost count) around her waist, her arms, her legs and standing on one foot, twirling, twirling the hoops nonstop.

To the outstanding show, Colin Gagné's original music added depth and emotional enjoyment, sometimes with a single piano key joined by a bass or violin, guitar, sometimes a harmonica to create tension and expectation. 

I don’t usually care too much for audience participation (I'm coming to be entertained, after all, not to be the entertainer) but the number which introduced Duel Reality was all right: Upon entering Harman Hall, we were given red or blue wristbands to support the red or blue team on stage and shout encouragement as a judge determined the winner of each match. 

We threw our wristbands towards the stage to show our favs, and in the end, we all came together in a show of unity (reminiscent of but, sadly, not realistic of the current political state of affairs in the U.S.A).  

What better place to mix Shakespeare than at the Shakespeare Theatre Company? 

Duel Reality is part of the DC International Theatre Festival and a small portion of the repertoire of 7 Fingers, a Canadian company founded in 2002 by seven circus artists. 

But these perform without nets!

They come from all over the globe, many who began their training while still in single-digits.

Other members of the ensemble are Daniela Corradi, Adam Fullick, Vitor Martinez Silva, Miliève Modin-Brisebois, Anton Persson, Méghane Poulet, Santiago Rivera, and Colin Vuillème.

Members of the artistic team: Shana Carroll, director, writer, choreographer;  Alexander Nichols, lighting; Camille Thibault-Bédard, costumes;  Maude St-Pierre, production; Simon Carrière and Audrey Belzile, technicals; Anna Kichtchenko, assistant to the artistic director; and Francisco Cruz, acrobatic coach.

WHAT:  Duel Reality by 7 Fingers

WHEN:  Through July 20, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. matinees, Saturday and Sunday; and 1 p.m. matinee, Wednesday, July 16, 2025.  

Special performances: Open captions, 2 p.m., July 12, and 7:30 p.m., July 17. Audio-description, 2 p.m., July 19. Audio-enhanced system available at all performances.

WHERE: Harman Hall, Shakespeare Theatre Company, 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004

HOW MUCH: Tickets start at $39 (with fee included). 

AUDIENCE: For ages 6 on up although I dare say, younger children will be mesmerized, too.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call the Box Office at 202-547-1122, seven days a week, 12 – 6pm. The Box Office windows remain open until curtain time.

DURATION:  About 80 minutes without intermission (but the time seemed half that).

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