The Montreal-based artist collective, The 7 Fingers, or “Les 7 doigts de la main,” make their Center Theatre Group debut with the piece, “Duel Reality,”  that combines Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” with pole dancing, hula hoop-spinning and other circus acrobatics. It’s a short intermisionless one-hour and 15 minutes of family-friendly entertainment that mostly works.

Originally produced and created in collaboration with Virgin Voyages and directed by Shana Carroll, this production begins by keeping the audience on its toes. Do not be late! The friction begins immediately as the audience is divided into blue and red by wristbands. There will be rude confrontations and biting of thumbs before the acrobatics begin with two poles.

The polarizing forces become apparent as rival acrobatic families have a duel of daring pole exploits. The dance moves mostly draw from hip hop and breakdancing, even if some of the music is from an different era (e.g. “Dance of the Knights” from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet”).

The dueling acts include two juggles (one with balls and the other with clubs), hoops, the Chinese yoyo (or diabolo), seesaw and still trapeze. The hoops act made me wish I had taken hula hooping more seriously, and you’ll wonder if you could do some seesaw stunts of your own (but I don’t recommend it).

The weakness here is the spoken word and the vocals. While the vocals are not bad, the voices are not of the same caliber as musicals stars who have belted out on Broadway and the spoken word draws from Shakespeare but without the lovely diction one might expect.

Still, the Shakespearean texts is minimal and often project upon the backdrop of the stage. What you’ll remember is not the two lovers and the dueling but the dare-doing that will inspire ohs and ahs from the audience. This isn’t the kind of immersive world-building music-infused entertainment we’ve come to expect from Cirque du Soleil, but this is a more focused story, an imaginative and easily digested adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy that is more kid-friendly.

 “Duel Reality” has a limited run, only on stage at the Ahmanson until 22 September 2024. See it while you can, but remember, these are tricks and deeds not to be tried at home. Due to stylized violence, the piece is recommended for children six and above.  For tickets and more information, visit CenterTheatreGroup.org or call Audience Services at 213.628.2772 (Monday 10 a.m.–5p.m.; Tuesday through Saturday 12–8 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m.–7 p.m.) or e-mail the Ahmanson at tickets@ctgla.org.