| Mookie goes to Cirque
When Mooky Cornish starts out her colourful story about how she got her new job, it sounds like it’s going to be a terribly romantic tale. The former lead clown for the Green Fools’ Great Western Canadian Bricks & Earth Circus was wandering without direction in the mountains of New Mexico, cold and alone, looking for inspiration.
"And I looked up and there was a huge billboard, in the middle of nowhere in the desert, that said Cirque du Soleil," she says. "So I got on a train the next day, and I went to Montreal."
Of course, it would all be terribly romantic if it weren’t for the fact that the moment of revelation happened seven years ago, and when she dropped her CV on the casting director’s desk, it wasn’t exactly her ticket to stardom. They didn’t offer her a job right away, so she took an apprenticeship position instead. Oddly enough, when Cirque offered her lesser parts in its established productions over the next few years, she was in no position to take them.
"The next year, they called me and they said, ‘Alright, we want you to do this job in Germany,’ and I had just started university, and I had gotten a scholarship to go, so I couldn’t do it that year," she recalls. "And then another year, they called and said, ‘We want you to go to Las Vegas,’ and I said, ‘That’s not gonna happen.’ And then this year, I actually wanted a job, because I was getting tired of teaching elementary school, and so I sent them my video and CV, and they said yes."
Apparently, playing hard-to-get worked. As of January, Mooky finds herself one of two lead clowns in Cirque du Soleil’s new show, set to première in Montreal in April. She admits that most people thought she was crazy for turning down the internationally renowned touring company’s repeated offers.
"The truth is, I didn’t want to go and do someone else’s part," she explains. "I didn’t want to go and live in Las Vegas. If I was going to do that job, I’d want to be the main clown. And so holding out did work out, because now that’s what I’m doing."
Not only is she not climbing into someone else’s part in one of the two permanent spectacles that Cirque presents in Las Vegas, she’s actually involved in creating the new touring show.
"That way, you know that you’re going to like what you’re doing," she says. "There’s no way that you want to be tied to a big company – any company – and have to do something you don’t totally love for three years. It’s really essential that you love the material, and it’s you."
There are some material perks, too, she adds with a laugh. She’s stepping into a different world from the one inhabited by the Green Fools B&E Circus, which puts up its own tent for performances in rural communities across Alberta. As well, Cirque’s massive headquarters, located in an architectural marvel in Montreal, will be a bit different from Crump Manor, the Fools’ utilitarian studio in Ramsay.
"They have a studio that’s as big as Crump Manor – probably bigger – that’s exclusively for hats," she says wonderingly. "And then another studio exclusively for shoes. And another one the same size exclusively for archives. Their studio is as big as Ramsay! It’s enormous. They have thousands of people, and everything you want. I’m like, ‘Oh, I need an accordion,’ and the next day, I find myself in an accordion store, and they’re saying, ‘What colour do you want?’"
She’s not exaggerating. Cirque du Soleil employs 2,100 people, and currently runs seven shows on four continents. They haven’t used a cent of public money or private donations since 1992, and they estimate that about 6 million people saw their shows in 2001. The food services director in their cafeteria was former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s personal chef during his term in office. Cirque is a long way from where it started in 1984, as a bunch of roving street performers.
Mooky has signed on for a three-year term, which will involve intense rehearsals and a performing schedule of 10 two-hour shows a week, in which the clowns figure prominently. She concedes that over the past few years, the company’s work might have become a bit predictable, but says that is changing.
"I think they recognized that," she says. "With this one, they’ve just taken a left turn. They’ve hired a completely new director, a theatre director, Dominique Champagne. He’s really well known in Quebec. He’s a playwright, so the show is totally different than anything they’ve ever done before. It’s dark, it’s gritty – it’s a play and it’s going to be genius."
Not only a new director, but a new costume designer and choreographers – and lead clown – will take part in a first for Cirque du Soleil.
"It’s a full-on risk, I realize that – we all do," she says. "It could go down the drain, or it could be incredible, but I feel like it will be incredible."
The Green Fools will be holding a farewell party for Mooky from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on January 6 at Crump Manor (1046 - 18th Ave S.E.). |
