Sun goes down on Cirque du Soleil stars

Staff from Cirque du Soleil’s Australian tour company have been let go after the Canadian entertainment giant filed for bankruptcy.

‘We will bounce back’: one of the company’s Australian trampoline artists, Fletcher Donohue, 24, outside his home on the Gold Coast. Picture: Glenn Hunt

A “village” of circus performers, crew and staff has been let go from Cirque du Soleil’s Australian tour company after the Canadian entertainment giant filed for bankruptcy protection with debts of about $2.2bn.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced Cirque du Soleil to close 44 shows worldwide, including the Australian tour of Kurios.

The company shut its big tent at Melbourne’s Flemington racecourse at the start of the lockdown in March, and has postponed its seasons in Adelaide and Perth.

On Tuesday (AEST), Cirque du Soleil filed for bankruptcy ­protection and laid off 3500 staff worldwide as its consortium of three owners aimed to restructure the business with reduced debt.

“With zero revenue since the forced closure of all of our shows due to COVID-19, the management had to act decisively to ­protect the company’s future,” Cirque du Soleil chief executive Daniel Lamarre said.

Gold Coast trampoline artist Fletcher Donohue, 24, was among the 120 members of the Australian company of Kurios who learned of their fate from Mr Lamarre in a video message.

Donohue said his colleagues were a tight-knit group of circus performers, crew and support staff from 22 different nations, many of whom returned to their home countries after the Melbourne season was shut down.

“I feel that we are all tough-skinned and used to taking a few knocks,” he said.

“If there was a group of people for this to happen to, I think live performance professionals are, unfortunately, used to it, and therefore one of the best to deal with it. There is a range of people and a range of emotions.”

The company’s majority owners since 2015 — private equity fund TPG Capital, China’s Fosun International and Canadian ­pension fund Caisse de depot et ­placement du Quebec — have proposed a restructure that involves a $US200m ($290m) loan from the Quebec government.

Australian employees are still waiting to hear if they will receive any severance pay.

Donohue, a former competitive athlete who joined Cirque du Soleil in 2015, said he and other high-level entertainment professionals had skills that could be transferred to other industries.

He is also planning to extend his career in artistic management.