Secret

In this circus he (Johann Le Guillerm) is the performer of all parts: tamer and equilibrist working with objects and animals. He enters the arena wearing medieval iron boots that produce characteristic clanking sound. But it is precisely this footwear that enables him to perform miraculous equilibristic tricks. Suffice is to mention the walk round the arena on bottle necks. He is Johann Le Guillerm, graduate of the Chalon-an-Champagne National School of Circus, who founded the Isi Circus as a “fair community” transformed into a laboratory.

Johann Le Guillerm is a remarkable artist. Throughout the performance the audience is enchanted by the incredible contrast between the character’s rather coarse image and perfect precision of his actions, between his grand body and the magic manipulations with objects.

Johann Le Guillerm is a rather rough character. But he is capable of working real miracles. In his hands a metal bar becomes a living, agile and independent creature. He makes iron basins spin round like Turkish dervishes. He builds two huge towers out of the books and connects the top points so that the ‘edifice’ doesn’t come tumbling down. In the end of the show he hand-makes a fantastic structure out of planks that begins to literally dance in the space. The most remarkable aspect of Johann Le Guillerm’s work is interaction with matter. He engages in a wordless dialogue with the objects and they do as he says. The performance of the Isi Circus is the making of history.

Today’s circus can become a subject for conversations and debates only if the performance is truly extraordinary. Johann Le Guillerm’s show The Sectret is the case of unprecedented eccentricity. In the beginning one has the impression of being present at the construction of some art object, rather than at the circus show. And even though the show is very well structured and thought out, the viewers have the impression of some chaotic, topsy-turvy action. The actor takes turns in becoming a tamer of basins and animal skins, a rider mounting a fantastic horse with a hundred of metal legs, a builder of a gothic arch out of books. Johann Le Guillerm appears as both Leonardo da Vinci and a professor from books of comics. Right before the eyes of the audience he creates amazing objects that have no practical use but that effectively emphasize the acrobatic talents of their maker.