Cirque du Soleil's Spectacular 'Corteo' Has Added More Shows to Its Upcoming 2025 Australian Season
You've now got more chances to see the acrobatic wonders of this beloved production when it heads Down Under from August.
It's the first Cirque du Soleil show that uses a central stage, placing its action in the middle of the arena, meaning that patrons face each other while they watch. It focuses, fittingly for a circus troupe, on a clown. Corteo is the production in question, and is also already proving a hit in Australia ahead of its 2025 season's arrival — with an extra 25 performances freshly locked in due to demand.
When a clown ponders its final farewell, what does it see? This show has the answer. When Corteo initially made its way to the stage in Montreal in 2005, it won over audiences by setting its acrobatic feats within a funeral procession imagined by a jester — a carnival-like parade that muses on humanity's strengths and vulnerabilities — in a space between heaven and earth. Two decades later, it's one of the troupe's most-beloved performances.
Cirque du Soleil announced earlier in 2025 that it would celebrating that Corteo milestone Down Under this year — and now that a five-city tour of Australia has just gotten bigger. The production's stints at Perth Arena, Melbourne's John Cain Arena, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney and Brisbane Entertainment Centre have all been extended by a week, albeit with shows focused around the weekend.
Accordingly, Perth will now enjoy Corteo from Friday, August 8–Sunday, August 17; Melbourne between Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 31; Sydney from Thursday, September 4–Sunday, September 14; and Brisbane across Thursday, September 18–Sunday, September 28.
Adelaide's dates at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre from Thursday, October 2–Sunday, October 5 remain unchanged.
Over its 20 years of life so far Corteo has proven a smash, with over 12-million audience members in 30 countries on four continents seeing it so far. As its clown protagonist conjures up the festive parade that ushers him from this world, attendees witness a poetic yet playful performance — one where the acrobatics are unique, too, and where angels watch over.
The show hits Australia after LUZIA was the last Cirque du Soleil production that bounded this way, kicking off in 2024 — and notching up another first, as the Montreal-based company company's debut touring show to feature rain in its acrobatic and artistic scenes. Before that, 2023 saw Cirque du Soleil bring CRYSTAL, its first-ever ice production on ice, Down Under.
Cirque du Soleil's Corteo — Australia and New Zealand Tour 2025
Friday, August 8–Sunday, August 17 — Perth Arena, Perth
Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 31 — John Cain Arena, Melbourne
Thursday, September 4–Sunday, September 14 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
Thursday, September 18–Sunday, September 28 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Thursday, October 2–Sunday, October 5 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
Cirque du Soleil's Corteo tours Australia from August 2025. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the show's website.
Images: Maja Prgomet, Johan Persson and Aldo Arguello.
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