On first hearing about Circa’s Duck Pond, I didn’t quite get it. I’m used to their often-cerebral content. Ok, it’s a contemporary circus company involving acrobats. How can they be cerebral?
Mainly because artistic director Yaron Lifschitz is an erudite bloke but he also likes to have fun. So while some Circa shows are serious, others are full of fun and whimsy.
Like Duck Pond. I soon got it, too. Swan Lake … Duck Pond. Get it?
I got it and when I first saw it in the Playhouse at QPAC I was delighted and so was everyone else. It’s so clever, so funny, and while it’s a riff on Swan Lake it also reveres that classic with multiple nods to it throughout.
Created by Lifschitz and the Circa Ensemble, feathers fly in this exuberant take on Swan Lake. The world’s most romantic ballet is re-imagined as a circus spectacular, full of Circa’s signature physicality and shot through with cheeky humour and a thoroughly contemporary energy.
You will be swept away by this tale of swans and hapless princes sparkling with quirky touches like the sequinned flipper-wearing duck army and a burlesque black swan.
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There are sumptuous aerials, jaw-dropping acrobatics and, of course, feathers! Touching, funny and utterly entertaining, Duck Pond is a tale of identity and finding your true self. The world’s most romantic ballet reimagined into a circus spectacular. What’s not to like.
This production is now part of Circa’s very extensive repertoire and the good news is that it is touring Queensland from August 29, beginning in Cairns and winding up at The Events Centre, Caloundra, on September 6, with shows in Rockhampton and Toowoomba too, which means plenty of people will have the opportunity to see this show.
If you’re a Brisbane resident like me, the closest show is on the Sunshine Coast at Caloundra, where it plays for one night only.
It’s a wildly imaginative reworking of Swan Lake combining jaw-dropping acrobatics, aerial artistry and cheeky humour in a 75-minute theatrical thrill ride.
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Featuring 11 powerhouse performers, this bold and touching take on the world’s most romantic ballet swaps tradition for tumbling, a sequinned duck army, a burlesque swan and high-flying heart.
Direct from international tours across Sweden, Canada, the US, the UAE and elsewhere, Duck Pond is back home.
The story follows a hapless Prince, a misunderstood Ugly Duckling and a dazzling Black Swan through a story of identity, love and transformation. Expect whimsy, wonder and a finale that reminds us all that true magic lies in being yourself.
Circa is now one of the world’s leading performance companies, pushing the boundaries of circus, theatre and movement in works that tour globally and defy genre expectations. It’s artistic director is known as one of Australia’s most visionary theatre-makers and acknowledges that “messing with Swan Lake is a risky business”.
But as we said in our review of Duck Pond‘s premiere season: “You wouldn’t want to do that unless you were a bit of a genius. It so happens Yaron Lifschitz is.”
Circa is now one of the most exciting performing arts companies on the planet – and it’s based in Brisbane. We love that.
Duck Pond plays Cairns Performing Arts Centre, August 29-30; Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton, September 2; Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, September 4; The Events Centre, Caloundra, September 6.