"Quidam" was just awesomely beautiful.

Benedict got us seats quite near the stage (Row G), so we had a pretty good view.

For those who don't know. "Quidam" (pronounced as "KEY-dahm") is a Latin word which refers to "a certain someone/thing". So in the essence of the show, Quidam is everyone and no one at the same time, the headless character in the show, the embodiment of the faceless society.

John, the ringmaster character in this show, was really funny. He was the first to make his appearance on the stage even before the show proper and started to hurry people to take their seats, since it was almost time to start; even did a bit of ushering. Haha.

The Diabolos act was cool; it was a very Chinese sort of act, but the music and the speed and mood were just so different that even if you'd been thoroughly jaded by all those cultural performances that you had to watch in school, you'd still be amazed by this one.

Contortion in silk was something that I'd seen in "Dralion" before, the German Wheel was quite amusing, especially since the artist seemed to be taunting the audience nearest to the stage by constantly rolling the large wheel that he was in over to the edge of the stage and stopping at the last possible moment; one of the men in the Spanish Web act looked eerily familiar in both his face and gait and poise; he reminded me of the Flying Man in Alegria. When Arts Central aired a recording of Alegria, I taped it and everytime I watched the Flying Man, it'd almost make me cry; something about flying and the music which made the mood so longing and so hopeful and so despairing all at the same time.

Oh, but I especially loved the Banquine act. Involves performers being thrown into the air and caught on nothing but two men's joined hands; reminded me a lot of Alegria's Russian bars.

Of course, there were the clowns. A staple in almost every Cirque du Soleil act, just as they were in every Shakespearean play. The two in "Quidam" were especially funny; haven't laughed that hard in ages.

Red balloons everywhere throughout the show.. well, maybe not everywhere, but at certain points; Zoe (the main character, a little girl) carrying one, then later she appears again carrying a few small ones all tied together; her mother, carrying larger ones tied together, and then later, dragging a string of deflated red balloons as she walks along the edge of the stage.

Like the end of childhood and becoming bored with the world. I thought that the red balloons symbolised childhood, anyway. Balloons for innocence and childishness and red for a burning kind of curiosity that every child has because the world is always new to them. Until they grow up and grow used to everything. Until they grow up and grow bored of the routine.

And Quidam is part of them and apart from them all the same time; because he is one of them and symptomatic of all of them all at once. And as the acts come and go and the faceless and veiled characters mill around and vanish in the background, Quidam appears and disappears from time to time, till he comes forward in the end to take back his hat, a hat without a head to cover, and everyone sheds their white coveralls and become different people.

And red balloons rise from all around the stage.