Press Release: DUCK POND, A SPECTACULAR REIMAGINING OF SWAN LAKE CREATED BY THE WORLD-CLASS CIRCUS TROUPE, CIRCA, SWANS INTO THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE THIS CHRISTMAS

[Jan McNulty]

PRESS RELEASE

Midday, Thursday 10 October, 2024

www.duckpond.live

@duckpondlive

#circacircus

Assets here

 

Roast Productions presents:

 

 

• 10 WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE UK PREMIERE OF DUCK POND, A SPECTACULAR REIMAGINING OF SWAN LAKE CREATED BY THE WORLD-CLASS CIRCUS TROUPE, CIRCA, SWANS INTO THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE THIS CHRISTMAS

 

• DUCK POND WILL RUN AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL FOR TWO WEEKS ONLY FROM 19 – 30 DECEMBER 2024. TICKETS ON SALE NOW.

 

Stunts. Sequins. Flippers. Feathers. Experience Swan Lake like never before…

 

It’s only 10 weeks until the award-winning Australian circus company Circa bring their exuberant reimagining of Swan Lake to London this Christmas. The perfect festive treat for all the family, Duck Pond is a thrilling and enchanting extravaganza that blends spectacular circus and dazzling performance.

 

 

Feathers will fly in this joyful and exhilarating tale of beautiful swans, a hapless prince, and a cheeky flipper-wearing flock of ducks. Brimming with eye-popping stunts, jaw-dropping aerials and rib-tickling comedy, Duck Pond will swan into the Southbank Centre this Christmas from 19 – 30 December 2024. A perfect Christmas treat for the whole family, tickets are on sale now. For further details visit www.duckpond.live

 

Circa is one of the world’s leading performance companies.  Founded in 2004 Brisbane, Australia, they have extensively toured the world performing in more than 45 countries to nearly 2 million people. Their works have been greeted with standing ovations 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.

 

Under the direction of circus visionary Yaron Lifschitz, Circa features an ensemble of exceptional, multi-skilled circus artists.  They are regular fixtures at leading festivals and venues in New York, London, Berlin and Montreal with seasons at Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Barbican Centre, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamäleon Theatre as well as major Australian Festivals.

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

 

Duck Pond

Southbank Centre,

Belvedere Road

London

SE1 8XX

southbankcentre.co.uk

 

19 – 30 December

Performance schedule:

 

Thursday 19 December - 19.30

Friday 20 December - 15:00

Saturday 21 December -15:00 & 19:30

Sunday 22 December - 11:00 & 15:00

Monday 23 December - 19:30

Tuesday 24 December – no performance

Wednesday 25 December – no performance

Thursday 26 December - 15:00

Friday 27 December - 15:00

Saturday 28 December - 15:00 & 19:30

Sunday 29 December - 15:00 & 19:30

Monday 30 December - 15:00

 

www.duckpond.live

 

Tickets from £20

 

Duration: 80 mins

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.

 

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

 

BIOGRAPHIES

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 60 productions including large-scale events, opera, theatre, physical theatre, and circus.

 

His work has been seen in more than 40 countries and across six continents by over 1.5 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.

 

ABOUT CIRCA:

"The mighty Circa" (Lyn Gardner, The Guardian)

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 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. Compelled by the question ‘what is possible in circus?’ Circa is leading the way with a diverse range of thrilling creations that ‘redraw the limits to which circus can aspire.’ (The Age).

 

Under the direction of circus visionary Yaron Lifschitz, Circa features an ensemble of exceptional, multi-skilled circus artists who have been a regular fixture at leading festivals and venues in New York, London, Berlin and Montreal with seasons at Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Barbican Centre, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamäleon Theatre as well as major Australian Festivals.

 

Visit circa.org.au to find a Circa performance near you and discover why Circa has been hailed as nothing short of ”... a revolution in the spectacle of circus.“ (Les Echos).

 

Circa is committed to fostering the next generation of circus artists and runs Circa Academy from its studio in Brisbane. Circa also runs regular circus programs with communities throughout Queensland and around Australia.

 

As a champion of live performance, Circa was the Creative Lead for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games arts and cultural program.

 

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

 

Roast Productions:
Roast Productions is a live entertainment company founded by Bonnie Royal and Michael Stevens, based in London and working internationally, focusing particularly on theatre, concerts and family entertainment, as well as offering general management and marketing consultancy services in the West End and beyond. Current and recent projects include Standing at the Sky’s Edge (West End), Macbeth starring Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma (Liverpool, Edinburgh, London, Washington DC), Christmas Actually curated by Richard Curtis (Southbank Centre), Vanya starring Andrew Scott (West End), 2:22 A Ghost Story (West End, Australia, and UK Tour), The 13-Storey Treehouse (UK tour) and the inaugural Wimbledon Children’s Festival.

 

 

 

 

[Sabine0308]

I'm going to see their program "Wolf" this month here in Berlin, I'm curious and excited. Never heard of them before, I admit, but there's so much to see in this world...and I'm grateful somebody introduced me to them.

Edited October 13, 2024 by Sabine0308

[Jan McNulty]

9 hours ago, Sabine0308 said:

I'm going to see their program "Wolf" this month here in Berlin, I'm curious and excited. Never heard of them before, I admit, but there's so much to see in this world...and I'm grateful somebody introduced me to them.

 

Please report back!