Circa Duck Pond

About Circa
Circa: circus that moves the world. 

Circa is one of the world’s great performing arts companies. Since 2004, they have called Brisbane, Australia, home while touring the world, captivating audiences in over 45 countries and reaching more than two million people. Their award-winning performances have earned standing ovations, rave reviews and sold-out shows across six continents.

Everything they do is fueled by their core values: quality, audacity, humanity.

They are at the forefront of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus, redefining the art form by showcasing how extreme physicality can forge powerful and emotive experiences. 

They are relentless in the way they push boundaries, blending movement, dance, theatre and circus.

Under the visionary leadership of Yaron Lifschitz, and in collaboration with their extraordinary ensemble of circus artists, they craft a diverse array of productions that constitute “a revolution in the spectacle of circus” (Les Echos).

Each year they tour their shows across the world and premiere multiple new creations. They are a staple at prestigious festivals and venues in New York, London, Berlin and Montreal as well as throughout Queensland and across Australia.

Their extensive engagement programs, including Circa Academy, Circability and Circa Cairns (a First Nations-led circus initiative) provide access, participation and professional development outcomes. They have delivered major projects including the Creative Lead on the Commonwealth Games Festival 2018 and managing Artour for the Queensland Government.

They invite you to join them as they continue to “redraw the limits to which circus can aspire” (The Age).

Discover more about Circa by subscribing to enews at circa.org.au and following the company on facebook.com/circacontemporarycircus, Instagram.com/circapresents, and via #circacircus

Click Here: Duck Pond Synopsis-All Acts

Prologue:
Cupid appears in a flash.

Act 1:The Palace
It's the night before the Prince's birthday. The palace is full of friends, prospective partners, and assorted revelers engaged in acrobatically infused merriments. A pillow fight mishap stops the fun. Cupid guides the Prince to meet the Ugly Duckling. They fall improbably in love. Their infatuation is elaborated in acrobatic duets. But reality intrudes. A humble duck and a royal prince? It could never work. The Ugly Duckling is consoled by a Duck Army. Then the Black Swan arrives, all sequins and heels. The Prince is instantly smitten and chooses her as his partner. Everyone's invited back for the ball.

Act 2: The Lake
A lake. Swans above and below. The Ugly Duckling, Prince, and Black Swan circle each other. Abandoned, the Ugly Duckling throws herself into the swans. She flies. Turns out she's been a swan all along. The Black Swan appears and seduces everyone. She chooses the White Swan. The Prince is left confused and alone. Friends and revelers return to celebrate the union. The Prince wonders what could have been. The swans head into the sunset together.

Act 3: The Theatre
We glimpse what swans are actually like in nature. It's almost time to go home. As we pack up, wondrous strange thing

Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa ensemble.

Director, Stage Design Yaron Lifschitz 
Composer and Sound Designer Jethro Woodward 
Costume Designer Libby McDonnell 
Lighting Designer Alexander Berlage
Associate Director Marty Evans
Dramaturg/Associate Choreographer Rani Luther 
Voice Over Artist Elise Greig 

Footage of brutal swan fight used with the kind permission of Carl Bovis.

International representation Please credit where as appropriate as per your region
Allen Moon / David Lieberman Artists’ Representatives USA, Canada, Central & South America 
Antonin Coutouly / Kinetic Tour France
Danielle Kellie / Circa Australia & New Zealand
Shaun Comerford / Circa Commercial Projects
Wolfgang Hoffmann / Aurora Nova Worldwide booking & coordination
Yaron Lifschitz / Circa New creations & big dreams

Due to the nature of circus performance, the individuals in the Circa Ensemble are subject to change. A current and accurate list of acrobats involved in the performance will be available closer to the performance date.

Creatives Bios 


Yaron Lifschitz - Director
Yaron Lifschitz makes shows. Big ones, small ones, and ones that defy easy categorization. More than 80 productions have toured across six continents and played to over two million people picking up a shelf’s worth of awards including six Helpmanns, The ISPA Distinguished Artist Award and the Australia Council Theatre Award.

As CEO and Artistic Director of Circa he has brought circus to the Barbican, string quartets and acrobats to Brooklyn Academy of Music, four years of performances to Berlin and major shows to major festivals and venues around the world. He’s created strange, beautiful things in tents, concert halls, spiegeltents, and opera houses as well as cemeteries and cathedrals. His film work has appeared at the Berlin and Melbourne Film Festivals.

Yaron was the founding Director of the Australian Museum’s Theatre Unit, he has taught directing at NIDA and ATYP and has directed opera, concerts and events. In 1999 he was the first Artistic Director of Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus which, in 2004, he transformed into Circa. In 2018 he was Creative Lead of Festival 2018, the cultural program of the 21st Commonwealth Games - one of the most ambitious arts events in Queensland’s history.

At the heart of Yaron’s work is restless curiosity and a fierce belief in the power of performance to connect and transform. He describes his creations as "love letters to a species that not always easy to like".


Jethro Woodward – Composer & Sound Designer
Jethro Woodward is a Melbourne-based composer, musical director, arranger, musician and sound designer recognized for his expansive and highly layered film, theatre and dance scores. A multi Green Room Award winner and Helpmann nominee, he has worked with some of Australia’s leading major and independent companies including; Malthouse Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Victoria, Chamber Made Opera, Back to Back, Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin, Australian Dance Theatre, Aphids, Stuck Pigs Squealing, Rawcus, Kage and more.

A composition graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts, Jethro draws upon his detailed understanding of contemporary music and its uses in live performance, including innovative uses of technology, combining live instrumentation with prerecorded, electronic, musical and sound elements into a seamless flexible and responsive score.

Jethro regularly tours his work internationally and has won Green Room Awards for his work on; The Bloody Chamber (Malthouse Theatre), Moth (Malthouse Theatre/Arena Theatre), Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd (Malthouse Theatre/Arena Theatre) and Irony Is Not Enough (Fragment 31). As a guitarist and singer, he regularly performs with Meow Meow and Paul Capsis, and has been a member of the band Cordarzine over the past 15 years. He most recently was the composer of Rapture at Sydney Festival 2021, directed by Michael Kantor and starring Paul Capsis and iOTA.

Libby McDonnell – Costume Designer
Libby McDonnell is a designer, director, and creative lead. As Head of Engagement and Design at Circa, she has designed costumes for over 40 productions, co-directed major works, and led key community programs, including the pilot of Circability. Libby holds a First Class Honours degree from Queensland College of Art and an Associate Degree in Dance from QUT. 

Circa acknowledges the assistance of the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. 

Duck Pond is co-commissioned by QPAC and The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, The Art House Wyong, Frankston Arts Centre, HOTA - Home of the Arts, Merrigong Theatre Company and Orange Civic Theatre.

Thank you to our Corporate Sponsor, Investment Center. 
Thank you to our Individual Sponsor, Russ Campbell. 

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