Sydney Festival favourite James Thierrée is to headline 2015’s lineup with his largest and most extravagant work yet. The cryptically titled Tabac Rouge has tended to flummox reviewers abroad, who have ended up grasping for oxymorons: a “beautiful beast of a show”; a “grand and virtually silent opera”; “a feast of visual poetry”. Festival Director Lieven Bertels however, is confident that Sydneysiders will flock to this ambitious conflation of circus, physical theatre and illusion.

Thierrée, acrobat, musician, dancer, actor, mime and choreographer, is hailed as one of the most creative contemporary circus performers in the world. Coming from talented lineage, he is the son of circus performers Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thierrée, grandson of Charlie Chaplin and great-grandson of Eugene O’Neill.

The Sydney Festival is proud to present this Australian exclusive and work with Thierrée for the 2015 season. “In his largest work to date, James Thierrée not only shines in the lead role but also demonstrates his skills as a choreographer,” says Bertels. “The show explores a world somewhere between the silent cinema classic Modern Times and a Jeroen Bosch painting – sometimes dazzling and funny, sometimes alienating and grotesque, but always hypnotic.”

Fronting the production as performer,...