R.U.N - THE FIRST LIVE-ACTION THRILLER PRODUCED BY CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

HE TOOK HER HEART. IT’LL COST HIM BLOOD.

Are you ready for another dose of dreamlike impressionism and whimsical flights of fancy? Then you’re in the wrong joint.

R.U.N is what happens when the stuntmen send the acrobats out for coffee then change the locks behind them. It’s a race through the darkest parts of a Las Vegas that isn’t quite our own, one back-alley brawl at a time. A lean 75 minutes of throw downs, pyrotechnics, scraps, car chases, donnybrooks, motorcycle tricks, livewires, and, in case you hadn’t noticed, a whole mess of fighting.

Robert Rodriguez, the genius behind Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn and Alita: Battle Angel, writes this graphic novel come to life. Tyler Bates, who’s scored more movies than Gene Siskel, comes in to do the soundtrack. And tying it all together is Masked Singer creative director Michael Schwandt, who sews up all the interwoven stunts, live video, explosive special effects, throbbing rock and electronic and, of course, clowns.

Nah, just making sure you’re paying attention. No clowns.

What is on the menu, though, is a nasty little tale of love, rage and betrayal in what marks a major departure for Cirque du Soleil: not only is this the first all-action spectacular in the company’s 35 years, but it’s fueled for the first time by a ticking clock of a plot that propels the story from chapter to chapter.

In other words, don’t plan on picking up where you left off after any impromptu bathroom breaks. You’re just going to have to hold it. You should’ve thought of that before we hit the throttle.

LOBBY AND PRE-SHOW

One foot across the threshold. Hairs on the back of your neck standing up. It’s dim and familiar. You’ve been places like this. They’re the places that snap you to attention, always glancing over your shoulder. Take a long walk through a back-alley worthy of every seedy movie you ever told your mother you never saw. Lowlife characters in doorways, tattoo parlors, oozing neon and abandoned vehicles, all swallowed in a sea of graffiti. This is the Blackjax and Streetkingz’s world. Settle in. Relax. Take some pics of your new tattoo and send them home to mom.

Come out on the other side of the alley and you’re in the lobby, as cavernous as any massive nightclub and twice as sexy. Did one of the gangs set this place up? Probably. You need somewhere to launder those ill-gotten gains. Doesn’t matter. The drinks are stiff and the night is young. You’ve got a good feeling about this. The music is pumping inside the theatre, the sounds of the DJ pulsing through the walls and rattling the towering graffiti murals. It’s time to go inside.

THE CHARACTERS OF R.U.N

ME

Am I brave, stupid, both, neither, or just plain crazy? You’ll have to figure that one out for yourself. You meet me when I bust into a gangland wedding at just the wrong time. The bride’s side? Goons. The groom’s side? Thugs. Sounds about right. I’m the kind of guy who collects enemies and contusions in equal measure.

THE GROOM

You hate to judge a man by how he acts on his worst day. For the Groom, though, they’re all the worst days. And that was before I went and stuck my nose in and made things a thousand times worse. The Groom is two parts hate to four parts vengeance, and he’s not letting anything get in the way — not me, not his gang, not a wall of pure fire.

THE BRIDE

Ah, our damsel who causes distress. The Bride could be caught between me and the Groom. She could be just another piece of the gangland puzzle. Where do her loyalties really lie, and what’s she willing to do to get what she wants? Also, who did she hire to cater the reception? Because from the look of things, she is not getting her deposit back.

THE STREETKINGZ

Is there such a thing as a “good” gang? Probably not, and the Streetkingz aren’t going to try to convince you otherwise. My crew is always there to back me up when I find myself surrounded. Their gear may be shiny and colorful, but they’re anything but sunshine and roses.

THE BLACKJAX The Blackjax make my squad look like a barbershop quartet on a warm Sunday afternoon. The Groom’s mob is full of thugs, heavies, muscle and henchmen in suits. And those are the nicer ones. When it gets down to business, the Blackjax get nasty.

THE PROFESSIONAL

Single-minded and relentless, once the Professional gets started, he won’t stop until one of us is dead. Or he falls over. Or both. This dude could slip on a banana peel and still stick a knife between your ribs on the way down. Seems like a loser, till you try to lose him. If you want to survive the Professional, you’re going to need more than luck, because he has it all.

THE DOCTOR

This guy. Oof. Your happy place might not involve a pair of clamps and some jumper cables, but The Doctor begs to differ. He also begs to get you alone in a dark room with nothing but some vice grips and a power drill. His credo is: First, do all of the harm. Not the guy you invite to the company picnic, you know?

SYNOPSIS

The desert wind blows hot and stiff. Somewhere outside of Las Vegas – or a place near enough like it as makes no difference – stands a small chapel. Guests, organ music, anticipation, the works. It’s someone’s wedding day. A man walks inside, and he ain’t here to toss rice.

In a flash he’s out the door and clutching a necklace. Into the getaway car and the chase is on, racing through city streets and out into the audience. Before you’re done picking at your popcorn, half of these thugs are picking their teeth up off the floor as two gangs erupt in a full-on riot, going at each other tooth-and-nail for their very survival.

That’s just the start of a night of flying motorcycles, savage fighting, fierce loving, folks on fire, free-falls, free-for-alls, and fireballs. It’s a living, breathing, graphic novel that’s nonstop tire- peeling, fist-flinging and double-crossing action.

Cut forward to the last chapter, you’ll finally see the Bride’s true colors. Then you’ll understand why that wedding had to be stopped. If you need to know all the nasty details, there’s only one way to find out. Like everything else in this world, it all comes down to that cold, hard cash. Like the man said: Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Are. You. In?

THE ANATOMY OF R.U.N

CHAPTER 1 – NEON WEDDING “This is it. All or nothing … Just the way I like it.”

CHAPTER 2 – BOOM BRAWL “An ace in the hole is no match for a fist in your face.”

CHAPTER 3 – LOOKOUT “This guy’s famous for being good at nothing … Except killing me.”

CHAPTER 4 – TAG “From the moment I met her… She was hell on wheels.”

CHAPTER 5 – LESSONS IN PAIN “At least I’m not dead … But after this, I’ll wish I was.”

CHAPTER 6 – REV “A car can be a nasty piece of machinery … But, so can I.”

CHAPTER 7 – INTO THE DEPTHS “Are you afraid this will actually work?”

CHAPTER 8 – LEVEL UP “Time to prove that I’m still worth a damn.”

CHAPTER 9 – ’TIL DEATH “The end looks a lot like the beginning.”

R.U.N - A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK

MUSIC

This isn’t R.U.N composer Tyler Bates’ first rodeo with eye-popping action. Bates has collaborated with influential rock artists such as Marilyn Manson and Bush, and has scored films like Guardians of the Galaxy, 300, and the John Wick franchise among many more in TV, film and beyond. He brings that low-down, dirty rock and electronic sound to R.U.N.

“There's no doubt that this show is steeped in an aesthetic of a graphic novel,” Bates said. “It's creating a world that really feels unique unto itself. When this show begins the objective is to pull you into our own reality and our own rules. Some of the films I work on embody that same characteristic, like John Wick. Once you begin watching one of those movies, I think the music helps to set the rules and illustrate what the world of the characters actually is. I think we're approaching this show with a similar mindset.”

Music isn’t just the soundtrack here, it’s a key part of the world-building. As you enter the lobby, you hear the DJ spinning in the next room. Move on to the theater, and she has the crowd moving before the show. She even pops up later in key scenes to blister the action with tunes worthy of a full-on club.

As well as Bates’ original music, R.U.N also finds space for multiple takes on existing rock and pop songs, with a cover of twenty one pilots’ “Jumpsuit” sung by Gavin Rossdale; Beyonce’s “Haunted” as performed by Eivør; and New Order’s “Blue Monday” performed by HEALTH.

“Musically, it's so different,” show director Michael Schwandt said. “The integration of the songs, like ‘Jumpsuit,’ is just such a huge treat for people who are fans of Gavin Rossdale and alternative music. The first scene, Boom Brawl, is so powerful and bold, it almost feels like a Marilyn Manson concert. It will wake people up and jolt them. Musically, it has such a strong identity. We're tapping into so many different areas, and it all feels exciting and edgy and current.”

Plus, it’s exactly the kind of music that sounds great for people to get punched to, and that’s really all that matters.

SET DESIGN AND LIGHTING

Sitting in your seat and watching the show is great and all, if that’s what you’re into. Finding yourself in the middle of the show is a damn sight better.

After your journey through the alleyway, you enter the theater, where the 70-foot high, 200-foot long stage doesn’t stop at the footlights or the rafters, but instead just offers a mere suggestion of where the show in front of you might take place. Could be above the stage. Could be in your lap. Please wear nice pants.

The action envelops the audience, with massive end-to-end screens wrapping around the stage. R.U.N is a mixed-media show, and to get there it had to blend pre-recorded content, live projected video, and traditional sets and performance.

“When you walk into our show, it's more dangerous, dramatic,” says Bruce Rodgers, who designed both the show’s set and the lobby. “You're not in a comfort zone. We're the visual opposite of other Cirque du Soleil shows from the get-go. Your emotional anticipation is different. I'm super excited as a set designer amid all those other great set designers that this is the one that's breaking all the rules.”

Tying together the sets and the video is a bold, expressive lighting palate that took its cues from both the heavy metal and electronic soundtrack, but also from the show’s graphic novel aesthetic.

“It's hard to translate a graphic novel into light. It's like taking a chalk line and outlining everything. Manipulating every image to be comic book-ish,” lighting designer David Finn said. “We're looking to be really intense. Tyler's music is intense. We're being in-your-face with a lot of stuff.”

VIDEO PROJECTIONS

Almost two tons of American muscle races through the Nevada Desert, live on stage. Well, the car is live. The desert, not so much. Oh sure, that was the idea at first, but sweeping it back outside every night was getting old, fast.

With content led by Olivier Goulet and Projection Co-designer Johnny Ranger, 4U2C, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group’s own Creative Design Studio, created a massive video library for the production, including the Mojave during the Rev scene, where the desert slices and twists through the projected landscape behind the on-stage action to create the illusion of movement. It combines into one of the most visceral chapters of R.U.N, a key example of how all the design elements come together to create a world of miles-wide depth and miles-per-hour velocity.

“We wanted to make it more encompassing for the audience,” Goulet said. "All visual elements of the show, including set, lighting and projections are truly working as one. We’re making this experience a visual feast where storyline and performers all come together in context."

And then there’s the Camerawoman. It’s always more fun when someone’s watching, right?

Of the show, but not quite a part of it, The Camerawoman is there to record every knuckle sandwich in loving detail. And she’s tenacious, following the action wherever it leads – down with the fights or up into the rafters -- to bring live video to massive screens that envelop the stage. That footage is textured live, and often split up into panels… there’s that graphic novel feel again. Live video, action movie, graphic novel, show…it’s all there, at the same time.

COSTUMES AND MAKEUP

Rock ‘n’ roll, motorcycles, race cars and industrial landscapes in the seedy underbelly of a sketchy city. If they’re right about “dress for the job you want,” then this whole crew is ready to print up new business cards for the reckless, unhinged street thug industry.

R.U.N is a world of gangland mayhem in a Las Vegas not entirely unlike our own. And if you’ve spent any time in the real Las Vegas lately, you might have noticed one or two people who stood out. Way out. Those people are the inspiration for these characters. After all, that’s the world they inhabit – they’re children of the night, and the music they make is loud.

The Streetkingz are brash and hip-hop, with abstract, colorful tattoos. The look of the Blackjax is influenced by the classic gangsters of the 1940s and ‘50s, but with a modern feel. The tattoos for that crew are more representational, and heavy in reds and blacks.

Makeup designer Nathalie Gagné, a 25-year veteran of Cirque du Soleil, sketched dozens of tattoos en route to creating the look of each gang. That wasn’t the only new test for her, though. She had two considerations that ran counter to her two decades with the company: makeup that could stand up to fire instead of water; and makeup that revealed and reveled in the humans underneath.

“We have a tendency to do more exotic characters,” she said. “For this show we're looking at faces, light. It's the eyes and the lips, the skin. That's the big difference.”

Gagné wasn’t the only one who had to deal with all the fire in R.U.N, either. Costume designer Kym Barrett had to tackle all that heat – plus the abundance of free-falls in the show – without the benefit of being able to frequently send performers off to change.

That means that clothing had to allow for free movement but keep everyone carefully fireproofed and padded for the high-energy stunts throughout the show, without looking like they were riding the ladder truck to a five-alarm fire.

“A lot of what you want to do is show as much real skin as possible because it makes it much more connective to the audience,” Barrett said. “When we don't want them to be covered up so much, we had to generate fireproof tattoo-printed body stockings which not only protect them from the fire but cover up their pads. Trying to streamline people and make them look sexy and young and be able to move really well, it's difficult when you're trying to pad people so much.”

Sexiness vs. safety. Will science ever solve this ancient dilemma for us?

STUNTS AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

If you’re not living dangerously, are you even alive?

Yes, and typically, for much longer. But still.

R.U.N is a stunt show at the heart of it, which might mean starting from zero considering how other productions are steeped so heavily in acrobatics. For performance coordinator Rob Bollinger, though, it was a homecoming. Bollinger started his career in stunt work and brought that experience to bear on creating R.U.N’s kinetic action and frenetic pace.

It started with the story, where Bollinger drew on the gritty, industrial tableau to create a blend of fighting styles among the Streetkingz and Blackjax. You might see some mixed martial arts, wushu or straight-up pro-wrestling action during the show’s multiple street fights. And it’s not just fighting. R.U.N’s stunt performers also do high falls, aerial work and body burns, while dodging pyrotechnics, flames and explosions. All in a day’s work, right?

R.U.N’s blend of live video and live action forced the stunts to be tighter than they’d be in a movie, where the camera couldn’t always hide the tricks. If it looked good on film, it still had to look good to members of the audience at any spot in the theater – and be forgiving enough on performers that they could repeat it 10 times a week.

“I want it to be a real stunt show, for you to feel the impact, feel the gravity, feel all the elements that we have when you're doing a real stunt show,” Bollinger said. “And then understanding that film is just one or two takes, but here it's ‘I have to do it eight more times a week.’ How can we make it doable and repeatable, yet still be wowed? I think certain stunts have an acrobatic nature to them, so we're not completely departing from what we know and what we do, but it's certainly in a different context.”

WRITING

Desperado. Planet Terror. Sin City. If you’re putting together a gritty neo-noir action thriller, you should get the best. And Robert Rodriguez is the best.

Since exploding onto the freewheeling 1990s indie movie scene with El Mariachi, Rodriguez has written and directed over a dozen features, but he’s never before tackled a live production show. That changed with R.U.N.

“It's very different writing for the stage; there's lots of things to consider,” he said. “You can't have traditional dialogue, so we're using a voice-over device. But even with that, a lot has to be conveyed, and so you have to set up situations and offer story in paced-out doses. The rest has to be conveyed through movement and staging. I knew it would be a great opportunity to see behind the curtain on all that it entails to put a big show together, in all areas including on a production level.”

Rodriguez’s hard-boiled dialogue drives the voice-over, and in turn the story of R.U.N., drawing the audience into this seamy underworld full of high-stakes action, set in a dusty desert landscape. Which should sound familiar to Rodriguez fans.

Those desert showdowns, he says, heighten the sense of infinite possibilities – a Wild West where anything can happen. It’s that kind of anything-goes atmosphere that allows Rodriguez the latitude to find the narrative between these kinetic stunt pieces. Which was a unique challenge in scripting a show like R.U.N.

“I love working within parameters,” he said. “I find it just as creative if not more creative then when you are totally free. There was already a rough story in place and all of the set pieces when I got contacted. They were looking for a story thread that could tie it all together. Which is really fun to try and reverse engineer a story by doing a minimal of moving things around. I felt it would be more genre specific to have several story twists, so the characters evolved in order to accommodate that, without really changing the structure or set pieces.”

FAST FACTS

• The show’s main video screen is 120 feet wide by 50 feet wide and boasts almost 23 million pixels. All the screens together tally more than 35 million pixels.

• The launch, or kicker, ramp during the Tag sequence is 12 feet high, propelling riders 40 feet across the stage before landing on a 16-foot ramp.

• Four robotic cameras, four miniature cameras and 20 handheld cameras are used to capture video during the show, which gets sent to 19 projectors capable of 30,000 lumens each.

• The show’s costumes include Kevlar, Nomex, leather, and an oxidized acrylic/aramid material to fireproof performers.

• The computers used to render all the video for the show total 48,960 cores capable of 142.4 teraflops of graphics processing power. It’s a little different than what you might find in your living room: The Playstation 4 offers about 1.8 teraflop performance.

• There were 150 body tattoos designed, and 75 final designs used, for the cast.

• The train on the Bride’s wedding gown uses 40 yards of tulle.

• It took about 960 hours to render out the 70 terabytes of the final video content for the show, and about a year to render 400 terabytes of video generated during R.U.N.’s development.

• At its highest point, the action of R.U.N takes place 34 feet over the crowd.

THE R.U.N TEAM

Executive Team

YASMINE KHALIL - Executive Producer DANIEL FORTIN - Vice-President, Creation GABRIEL PINKSTONE - Producer

Show Creation Team

STEFAN MILJEVIC – Creation Director MICHAEL SCHWANDT – Director ROBERT RODRIGUEZ – Writer TYLER BATES – Composer and Arranger BRUCE RODGERS – Set and Props Designer KYM BARRETT – Costume Designer OLIVIER GOULET and JOHNNY RANGER – Projection Designers DAVID FINN – Lighting Designer JONATHAN DEANS – Sound Designer ROB BOLLINGER – Performance and Action Designer JAQUE PAQUIN – Stunt Equipment Designer NATHALIE GAGNÉ – Makeup Designer NEIL FRISBY and BRUCE RODGERS – Lobby Concept and Design FRANCOIS BÉRUBÉ – Production Director