Duck Pond

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#Feathers will fly in Circa's 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.

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. 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.

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.

Times

Thursday 04 September - 7:30pm

Prices

Empire Cardholder $59.00

Adult $64.00

Concession $62.00

Child U15 $35.00

Groups 6+ $60.00

*a fee of $5 applies per transaction for online bookings.

Venues

Empire Theatre

Genres

Circus/Physical

Run Time

75mins no interval

#WATCH A SNEAK PEEK

#Cast and Creatives

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.

Danielle Kellie / Circa Australia & New Zealand

Shaun Comerford / Circa Commercial Projects

Yaron Lifschitz / Circa New creations & big dreams

Photographer: Pia Johnson

Messing with Swan Lake is a risky business. You wouldn’t want to do that unless you were a bit of a genius. It so happens Yaron Lifschitz is
In Queensland

Boldly dramatic in its chaos and also charmingly magical in its whimsy
Blue Curtains Brisbane

Daring and a desire to go beyond…is what keeps Circa on the cutting edge
LIMELIGHT

Duck Pond may just be one of the most exhilarating and thought-provoking shows you will see this year
Arts Hub

Truly talented group of energetic performers with world-class balancing and stage craft skills that astound and amaze
Stage Whispers

Hugely entertaining and impressive
LIMELIGHT

Yaron Lifschitz
Director

Yaron Lifschitz is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, and National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), where he was the youngest director ever accepted into its prestigious graduate director’s course. Since graduating, Yaron has directed over 80 productions including large-scale events, opera, theatre, physical theatre, and circus.

His work has been seen in over forty-five countries and across six continents by nearly two million people and has won numerous awards including six Helpmann awards and the Australia Council Theatre Award. His productions have been presented at major festivals and venues around the world including Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Barbican, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamaleon and all the major Australian festivals. His film work was selected for the Berlin and Melbourne Film Festivals. He was founding Artistic Director of the Australian Museum’s Theatre Unit, Head Tutor in Directing at Australian Theatre for Young People and has been a regular guest tutor in directing at NIDA.

He is currently Artistic Director and CEO of Circa and was Creative Director of Festival 2018: the arts and cultural program of the 21st Commonwealth Games.

Jethro Woodward
Composer & Sound Designer

Jethro Woodward is a Melbourne-based composer, musical director, arranger, musician and sound designer recognised 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 is a designer and choreographer and she is currently Head of Design at Circa. Libby works in diverse genres and forms. At the heart of her work is people and movement.

Libby has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Visual Art from Queensland College of Art -Griffith University and an Associate Degree in Dance from Queensland University of Technology. Her professional career has included performing and making independent dance work, as an Artistic Director of Ballet Theatre of Queensland and Choreographer for Blue Roo Theatre Company. For eleven years Libby has worked with the team at Circa to imagine, develop and deliver their productions locally, nationally and internationally. During her time at Circa she has designed costumes for over thirty productions, co-directed 3 main stage productions and led many of the company’s engagement projects including the pilot of the Circability program.

Libby is based in Brisbane with her family.

Alexander Berlage Lighting Designer

Alexander Berlage is an award-winning director and lighting designer. He is co-artistic director of the Old Fitz Theatre. Alexander has won the Sydney Theatre Award Best Direction of a Musical for the past two years in a row – for American Psycho and Cry-Baby at Hayes Theatre Co.

As a lighting designer, Alexander has worked for Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Queensland, Circa, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sydney Chamber Opera, Sydney Dance Company, Griffin Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, Hayes Theatre Co., Australian Theatre for Young People, and Redline Productions.

His smash-hit, sold-out production of American Psycho won 9 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction of a Musical, Best Production of a Musical, and Best Lighting Design of an Independent Production and more. Alexander’s production of Gloria was nominated for 2 Sydney Theatre Awards. Alexander’s production of Cry-Baby received rave reviews, sold out and won 4 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction of a Musical, and Best Production of a Musical. The same year, his productions of There Will Be A Climax, Home Invasion and Cry-Baby received a combined total of 12 Sydney Theatre Award nominations. For There Will Be A Climax, Alexander was nominated for Best Direction of an Independent Production and Best Independent Production.

Alexander’s directing work includes: Diary Of One Who Disappeared, Future Remains (with Sydney Festival), Resonant Bodies (Sydney Chamber Opera); Young Frankenstein, American Psycho, Cry-Baby (Hayes Theatre Co.); Gloria (Outhouse Theatre Co); There Will Be A Climax (Redline Productions/NIDA); Home Invasion (An Assorted Few/Old 505); and The Van De Maar Papers (An Assorted Few/PACT).

Alexander holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Production) and a Master of Fine Art (Directing) from the National Institute for Dramatic Art, Sydney. In 2019, Alexander was awarded a Mike Walsh Fellowship.

Rani Luther
Dramaturg/Associate Choreographer

Rani Luther was born in Melbourne and attended the National Theatre Ballet School before completing her year 7-12 education at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. Rani’s professional dance career began with the Kiel Ballet Company Germany in 1995 before moving to The Netherlands where she danced with world-renowned Netherlands Dance Theatre 2 and Netherlands Dance Theatre 1.In 2003 Rani returned home to dance with The Australian Ballet Company for four years, joined Sydney Dance Company in 2007 and retired from stage as a principal dancer with Melbourne Ballet Company in 2011.

Rani has had the great pleasure of working with and performing works by choreographers such as Jiri Kylián, Hans Van Manen, Paul Lightfoot, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Johan Inger, Jacopo Gordani, Edward Liang, Graeme Murphy, Stephan Page, Stephen Baynes, Adrian Burnett, and Rafael Bonachela.South Africa 1993medal at the Sanlam International Ballet Competition, South Africa 1993, was winner of the outstanding performance award in the City of Sydney Ballet Scholarship 1994 and received a nomination for best female dancer in the Green Room Award 2006 for her roles in Relic and Jiri with The Australian Ballet Company. Rani was an adjudicator for the Sydney Eisteddfod Ballet Scholarship 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Rani’s choreographic creations include two works for NDT Workshop performances 2001/2002, Face the Music for Carriageworks Theatre Sydney 2012, Illuminate for MBC Empyrean season 2016 and Outside In for The Sydney Dance Company Pre-Professional season 2017. In 2018 Rani choreographed Lunar for Queensland Ballet’s inaugural season of Synergy and in 2019 Heartstrings for the Australian Ballet Company’s Bodytorque season. In 2020 Rani choreographed From. To. Here for Queensland Ballet’s Bespoke season and in 2022 choreographed Butterfly Effect for the inaugural season of TDC presents Encore season.

Marty Evans
Associate Director

Marty Evans came to circus by a more roundabout route than most. Marty left behind his published scientific career at Australia’s only nuclear reactor to embrace his physical sports background and pursue a career in circus. Marty then trained at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne.

Marty is a fiercely determined and hardworking hand-to-hand base that enjoys exploring new challenges and techniques. It was at NICA that Marty first came across Circa and was inspired by the combination of artistic and physical excellence. Marty joined the Circa Ensemble full time in 2015 and has been involved in the creation of numerous Circa productions including Humans, Humans 2.0, Sacre, and Duck Pond. In 2023 Marty completed a Master’s in Arts and Cultural Management and in 2024 he took up the role of Executive Officer at Circa.

Circa Contemporary Circus is one of the world's leading performance companies. Since 2004, from its base in Brisbane, Australia, Circa has toured the world - performing in more than 45 countries to nearly 2 million people. Circa's works have been greeted with standing ovations, rave reviews and sold-out houses across six continents.

Circa is at the forefront of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus - pioneering how extreme physicality can create powerful and moving performances. It continues to push the boundaries of the art form, blurring the lines between movement, dance, theatre and circus.

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.

Circa is based in Meanjin (Brisbane) on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbal people. We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the many lands on which we create and perform. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
Always was. Always will be.

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Duck Pond

#Feathers will fly in Circa's exuberant take on Swan Lake

#WATCH A SNEAK PEEK