Similarly, White’s trapeze, which normally consists of a metal bar wrapped in tape, is instead enclosed in ipê wood, sourced from a tree native to South America. Ipê wood, White explains, is naturally water-resistant: “When it gets wet, it’s actually grippier,” she says.

The beauty of Luzia’s waterworks is that it feels as natural and spontaneous as a spring shower. But behind the scenes, a dedicated team of technicians is required to pull off this elaborate piece of stagecraft. As Ethan Westland, assistant head of aquatics, explains, it’s unique to Cirque du Soleil.

“As far as I’m aware, there isn’t anything else out there that travels like this,” he explains. “I’ve seen plenty of rain curtains before, but they’re always fixed. To bring something like this on the road is a pretty complex thing to do.”

Westland hails from Tasmania, where he originally did his apprenticeship as a plumber. His job saw him relocate to Perth, and eventually to Canada. It was there he made the industry contacts that led him to join the Cirque during its London season of Luzia.

“I knew that world existed, but it’s not something everyone gets exposure to,” he says of his journey from Australia’s southernmost state to a life among carnival workers. “It wasn’t until I saw this show that I thought it could be a possibility.”

Westland’s primary role is managing the 10,000 litres of water that is used in achieving the show’s aquatic effects, as well as its complex storage and delivery system which includes an enormous water container, a six-metre rain truss suspended above the stage, and countless pipes and pumps connecting the two. He’s quick to point out that once the company is set up for its season in any given city, the water used in each performance is recycled.

“There are almost 100,000 little holes in the stage, which allow water to pass through onto catchment trays,” he explains. “From the catchment trays, it passes back into the pool, and is then pumped back to the water container. It’s filtered, heated and sanitised, then sent back [up to the rain truss to be used again].” Other than what’s lost to evaporation, none of it is wasted.

Elsewhere in the show, artists perform in and around a pool that recalls a cenote – a kind of naturally occurring freshwater sinkhole found in Mexico – and dreamlike images appear in the rain curtain. These are not projections but rather are created by controlling the flow of water via a system of 174 solenoid valves (Westland likens this effect to the way a printer creates images on a sheet of paper one line at a time).

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For Westland, the show is an opportunity to use his technical skills in a new way. “I’ve grown quite fond of the water system,” he says. “When you see how excited people are by what’s happening in front of them, it’s pretty rewarding.”

It’s a similar situation for White. “I never thought in my whole career I would have to do trapeze underwater,” she says. “Now I can’t imagine myself doing it without it.”

Luzia is on at Claremont Showgrounds July 25, 2024 - September 1, 2024.

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