Mitch Wynter says you will fall in love with his Cirque du Soleil character Trickster from Kooza, back in Sydney after 10 years. Editor in Chief Michelle Giglio discovers the Cirque magic in person.
To journey into a world far away from all our troubles seems like a dream – and Cirque du Soleil takes us to a place where we can laugh, cry and experience joy for a few hours.
Mitch Wynter was just 19 when he first joined Canadian circus group Cirque du Soleil. Now 27, the former North Shore resident is thrilled to perform in Kooza, which was last performed in Australia 10 years ago.
It’s the first time Mitch will perform with Cirque in Australia, and he has a major role to play as one of the main characters, Trickster.
I spoke to Mitch on Sydney Harbour when he had just flown in from Singapore, where Kooza played for two months.
Kooza is a nod to traditional circus, Mitch explains, with ‘thrilling’ acts like the Wheel of Death where two acrobats leap and counter-rotate across the spinning circle, and High Wire where tightrope walkers will astound with their expansion of this age-old genre.
As for Mitch, his character Trickster creates the world of Kooza at the start of the show, and leads The Innocent on a journey, teaching him the ways of life. “Amongst the craziness, there’s a very compelling story between the two main characters,” Mitch explains. While The Trickster is a ‘powerful’ persona, he also has a softer side. “I’m mischievous and cheeky. You’ll see the dynamic changes throughout the show and you fall in love with The Trickster.”
Mitch spends about an hour and a half doing his own intricate make up for the show, with red curving lines standing out from the yellow face. When he first learned the make up from Cirque specialists five years ago it took him more than three hours to do. “This makeup is kind of iconic within the Cirque du Soleil company, so there’s a lot of detail to it,” Mitch says.
It really sets the scene for the enchanting Trickster whose high energy plays such a huge role. “I like his charm a lot. He commands the stage and I like that I get to put myself into him as well. So conveying it is really nice, and when you watch the show, you can’t take your eyes off The Trickster. He’s captivating.”
It was when Mitch saw Kooza when just a teenager that he decided he wanted to be that character. “I really resonated with (his charm). Also seeing a queer character live on a stage was also inspiring.”
Mitch grew up on the Gold Coast, leaving school to train full time as a dancer at just 15. Then to pursue his performance dream, he moved to Sydney at 18 and studied further with Ev & Bow Fulltime Dance Training Centre in Kirrawee, and auditioned for Cirque. It didn’t take long for him to get his first role with the famed company, on cruises with Cirque at Sea when he was 19.
“I was shocked. Cirque was my dream and I knew it was a good way into the company. I always wanted Trickster, so I knew I needed to do something a bit more professional before I went into a big main character role,” Mitch reflects.
Spending eight months at sea, immersed in the Cirque culture with people from so many cultures was a good introduction for Mitch into the company. The performers spend most of the year travelling the world, with little chance to return ‘home.’
“On tour, we have about 120 people in the show, cast and crew. So we build our own families away from our home,” Mitch explains. “It can be difficult, but we get it so easy at Cirque. Everything is looked after. We get fed. We get lodging. So we do manage. I do miss my friends and family a lot, but I also make a home away from home.”
The cast and crew spend two to three months in a city – or longer. “So we really get to sit in the city and get to know it. And we build our little apartment there that we have.”
Mitch enjoys hiking, breweries and eating different cuisines, so he and the other artists like to play tourist and immerse themselves in new cultures. So far he’s been to 40 different countries – though admits he does miss Sydney, which he considers home now. “All my best friends are here, and some family too. I miss the cafe culture. I like the lifestyle here a lot. The weather, the summers. Yeah, I miss our culture too.”
As for the show, Mitch says people of all ages will love the ‘excitement and thrill’ of Kooza. “It has a lot of high acrobatics that will blow people’s minds. We don’t really see that to this extent in a Cirque du Soleil show that tours.”
Keeping his skills sharp is essential, and Mitch is a dance coach who teaches choreography to the acrobats. When he joined Cirque, Mitch had to develop new skills. “I came in as a dancer, but I learned how to act. And I’ve learned some acrobatics. We have one element of coming out of a box where we get launched into the air, so I had to train a lot for this.”
Mitch with fellow Kooza performers, twin jugglers Emiliano and Maximiliano Fusco and contortionist Sender Enkhtur
It has been five years since Mitch joined Kooza, and I ask him how he manages to keep Trickster fresh after all this time. “Each night I tend to go off each emotion that I’m feeling during the day as well. So I play into things if I’m feeling a bit run down, like I’ll get a bit more grungy with the character and I’ll get a bit more gritty. And if I’m feeling a bit more excited, the energy will be a bit more up and intense.”
Given he is a ‘man of the world,’ I ask Mitch how he grounds himself. “I moved out of home when I was 18. So I’m used to living on my own. I like alone time. But I hang out with amazing people from around the world and I learn things every day. I’m around people that inspire me and I like my job a lot. So that has a lot of stability in itself.”
He also has a budding romance with his boyfriend Kobe, who lives in Hong Kong. “That also grounds me, having my partner. We talk every day. We do what normal couples would in the real world, just via a screen and FaceTime. Every break I get, we get to go and see each other. And I’m blessed that I have a job where I can have breaks. And we’ll have 10 days off or a month off in between cities sometimes. So I’m grateful for that.
“It’s hard, long distance. (But) we sacrifice things to (work at Cirque). And a sacrifice is love and romantic life sometimes. It’s going to work out. We have a plan!”
I have been lucky to see two Cirque shows in Sydney in the last two years, and admit to Mitch I always find them incredibly uplifting. I ask Mitch if he thinks Cirque shows can help people given all that is going on in the world right now.
“Oh my God, absolutely,” Mitch enthuses. “I think the joy we bring and the passion. And I know we, as artists, look out to the audience and see the reactions and the faces and the cheering. And that brings us so much inspiration. I can only imagine what we bring to them. So it’s fulfilling as an audience member, and it’s also fulfilling to us.
“And I like that we can bring our own little world out to the audience. But it also makes the audience step out of reality and just forget about what’s going on in their life right now.”
Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza
17 October to 13 December
Big Top, Entertainment Quarter
Moore Park