The main part of his job is to cast the best circus artists from around the world, whether America, South America, Bulgaria, the UK, Russia, Mexico, Europe and here in Australia.

I’m talking to him by phone to the Lyric Theatre in Sydney where he’s overseeing the Sydney opening.

“I always go ahead with 15 designers and plan accordingly,” Laplante tells “CityNews”.

Originally from Canada, he’s been a gymnast since age six and was a member of Cirque du Soleil from age 16 for around 12 years, performing in shows such as “Saltimbanco” in Tokyo and “O” in Las Vegas, so he’s seen it all.

But Canberra, it turns out, will be something different, as the theatre is rejigged to create a traditional circus 360° configuration, with the audience very close to the stage. Audiences will have the choice of sitting at cocktail tables or raked seating on-stage in addition to the traditional ringside and reserve seating of the Canberra Theatre.

“Performers will get to see the smiles on the faces as audiences see the difficulties in the act,” he predicts.

“People will ask, ‘how do you do that?’ – it’ll be close enough to see all the muscles.”

Colour is at the forefront in “Le Noir”, which means, “The Black”. But the costumes transform from pure white through to the passion of red and finally the darkness of le noir.

“We’re bringing a little sensuousness to circus,” he boasts.

“The amazing costumes are very sexy and the actors are all pretty – very different from traditional circus. We explore the human being, we really look to the person.”

Mind you, “Le Noir” stays true to circus in fact, with a DJ, showgirl costumes, contemporary music, death-defying acts such as the Colombian Wheel of Death, and an entirely new act for Australia, The Aerial Cradle, performed by Chilly and Fly.

The aesthetic of the show was devised by Simon Painter, but Laplante has done the casting and is also charged with carrying the ideas to their artistic conclusion and ensuring that it’s not going too slowly.

While the publicity says that many of the performers come from Cirque du Soleil, most, now at the very peak aged 23, 24 or 25, were only at Cirque, for a year or so, now choose to take “a step into the 21st century,” as he puts it.

In traditional circus, he elaborates, many performers keep going until their 60s, but his performers know you have to keep in shape. “All our artists are very keen about their health,” he tells me, “taking care of health and safety — they can’t party.”

The casting process is a continuous one for Laplante, who contacts artists from around the world by emailed music, phone and video, but as he says, “of course you can’t audition a trapeze artist by email” and once he gets a short list, naturally he sees them personally.

Despite its name, Laplante is at pains to assure Canberra audiences, “Le Noir” is not black. “On the contrary,” he says, “it’s pretty colourful”.

“Le Noir – The Dark Side of Cirque”, Canberra Theatre, May 6-10. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au, 6275 2700 or ticketek.com.au