Circa: Duck Pond

The world’s most romantic ballet reimagined as “a family-friendly acrobatic spectacular”? Australia’s Circa Contemporary Circus is one of the globe’s leading performance companies, pioneering how extreme physicality can create powerful and moving performances and drawing rave reviews and standing ovations across six continents since its foundation in 2006.

Duck Pond is one of the company’s most ambitious works yet, an exuberant take on Swan Lake (with a hint of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling) that mixes the enchantment of the ballet with the thrill of the circus. It’s full of Circa’s signature physicality and is shot through with cheeky humour, colourful surrealism, and a thoroughly contemporary energy. You’ll see a clumsy film crew, a sequinned flipper-wearing army of ducks, and a burlesque black swan in this tale of identity and finding your true self; there are sumptuous aerials, enchanting duets, jaw-dropping acrobatics, and many, many feathers …

A review of the early performances in Australia last year called it “a cleverly inventive and astonishing blend of many art forms, primarily circus, ballet, theatre and classical music” and promised that “Duck Pond may just be one of the most exhilarating and thought-provoking shows you will see this year”.

Duck Pond was created by circus visionary (and Circa’s founder) Yaron Lifschitz (“the Caravaggio of contemporary circus”) with ten members of the ensemble. The music is by Jethro Woodward (“with hints of Tchaikovsky”) and haute couture costumes are courtesy of Libby McDonnell. The performance will be followed by a post-show Q&A with the artists, moderated by actress Francesca Bizzarri; there are further performances on 11 and 12 May at 3pm.