REVIEW

Father/son duo perform North American premiere of Sono io? at Le Diamant

Danielle Burns

danielle@qctonline.com

Danny and Pepijn Ronaldo from Belgium crossed the ocean for the first time to perform at Le Diamant Nov 13-15. The father/son duo have been performing Sono io? by Circus Ronaldo together since 2021 across Europe, totalling over 300 shows. They are the sixth and seventh generation of performers in their long line of travelling circus folk, including a fifth-generation lasso-twirling cowboy clown. Together they continue the family legacy, minus the red noses, using a modern style that blends clowning, theatre and music. Sono io? shares a heartfelt moment between a declining dad and his long-absent, returned son. 

The audience may have been surprised that the show began before the start time, with the father, played by Danny Ronaldo, lounging in a claw-footed bathtub listening to music on a large vintage reel Swiss Revox as people took their seats. “It’s clear he’s at the end of his career and his big success is in the past,” said the real-life father about his character. He is “living off nice, beautiful past memories” whereas his agile son, in his prime, looks to the future. There is admiration, mixed with competitive tension, when they are confronted by this reality. 

Pepijn told the QCT that the title Sono io? means “Is that me?” in Italian. “Because me and my dad, physically we look a lot alike, and we are very similar in a lot of ways. But then there are a lot of differences, like our age (almost 30 years) and some parts that are just ourselves. … The question is:  “Am I my father – a copy – or am I myself?” Ronaldo senior says all societies ask this universal question. “We have the DNA of all the generations before us.” This show explores the influence of heredity on identity. 

Their partnership started from a personal need and interest, said Pepijn. “I have been studying a lot and my dad was always on tour, so we didn’t see each other a lot.” He said making the show together was a way to “reconnect” and catch up on lost time. One slapstick bit sees them both standing on top of a full-sized piano, balancing on a cylindrical fulcrum, prompting gasps and cries from the worried audience. But it is the relationship that guides the story: “We look at being father and son and all these big things in life.” But they also see the bigger picture, “It’s the story of everyone – not just us.” 

The artists speak “with the eyes” using body language to convey emotion to the audience in a show they say could be understood even by Chinese speakers. The language “isn’t important,” says the father. It sounds a bit like Italian (often invented) to create “an ambience that goes well with our Commedia dell’arte style of clowning (characterized by physicality and improvisation, among other things). The result is a show that takes its time, eliciting contagious belly laughter as the audience relates to the hilarious antics the prideful father undertakes to gain “RESPECT” and give his son an “educazione.”

One audience member told the younger Ronaldo after opening night that the story about unconditional family love “touched [his] humanity.” Circus Ronaldo goes to Montreal next to share the love, before heading back across the pond. To learn more, visit circusronaldo.be/en.