‘Varekai’: A night of enchantment

Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai takes the stage at the River Center this week.

In the midst of a tight schedule, 225 spoke with Steven Bishop, an Australian actor who has been the stunt double for Rowan Atkinson (otherwise known as “Mr. Bean”) and has been a performer in Cirque du Soleil for almost a decade. He plays the clown in Varekai.

He’s not a traditional clown with the honking red nose. His job is to get the audience involved, he says, and it’s work that he doesn’t take lightly.

“We’re the real connection with the audience,” he says. “The most important thing for our work as characters is to be as truthful as possible. The moment you’re acting, you’ve lost the audience.”

With his background studying in Paris at Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Bishop has the audience interaction aspect of his job covered. The other two-thirds of his job are the preparation and traveling city-to-city. Bishop says his workout prep isn’t as vigorous as some of the other performers.

“Lots of people have to do more specific training,” he says. “Some guys do weight training. Others are working on their act all the time, warming up particular muscles. I find always going up the stairs and pilates has it covered for me.”

At the same time, the scenery is constantly in flux thanks to the nonstop touring schedule. His personal life has also changed. His wife and three children who used to be in the show are back in Paris. Though his eldest son is still part of the Varekai cast, life on the road has made him miss some family time. However, he’s not complaining.

“I’ve had the full gambit of experiences,” he says. “[Touring with a theatrical production is] not for everybody. But because of my upbringing, I learned at an early age how to find friends and where to find that nourishment I need.”

One such piece of nourishment is exploring each new city in his down time. One day, Bishop might go out to a rock-climbing wall. The next, he might visit a diner. Actively pursuing each city’s culture is a must for him.

“It’s possible to not see anything almost,” he says. “You can be quite self-contained, but we often go out so we can put ourselves in a position to where we can comment on the culture of that town for the show. It’s limitless the things you can pick up on when you do that. We get out of the routine by getting out there in the city.”

Performances start Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Additional performances take place Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m. Saturday’s performance times are 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday’s performances are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets start at $35.