The story is located in a mythic oriental world. To support the story, the lobby and the theatre shift the mood of the audience: the promenade from casino to seat is staged along curving ramped corridors that allow views of the ceiling of the auditorium while concealing the room from direct view until the last possible moment. The auditorium is carved out as negative space within an imaginary forest of columns, inspired by the Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto. The result is a cathedral-like volume in which the rhythm of the posts and beams forms a seemingly endless space.

The architectural treatment of the auditorium is extended into the stage area, so the boundary between the stage and the auditorium is unclear. The stage floor was removed and the auditorium seating pushed upstage under the proscenium arch.

Lepage uses the constantly-changing geometry of the moving platforms to play with the audience’s point of view of the acrobatic action even as they remain fixed in their seats. Combined with Cirque du Soleil’s seemingly weightless performance skills, the result is an uninterrupted sequence of scenes that appear to defy gravity.

Performers work across two moving platforms that cantilever out over the void where the stage floor used to be. The narrative takes the audience on a journey by land, sea and air over beaches, cliffs, mountains and forests.

// 15-metre-wide main platform, 7.6m (25ft) deep and 1.8m (6ft) thick

// Main platform weighs over 125 tonnes

// Main platform can pitch, roll and travel 24m (80ft) vertically

// Smaller platform 9m (30ft) x 9m (30ft) cantilevers from upstage

// Stage is 36m (120ft) wide and deep.

// Grid is 30m (100ft) above the nominal stage level