Cranked Up
May 2013
With another year of travelling under their belts, Circus Oz are back with a tighter, road-hardened show
Circus Oz spent a year touring From The Ground Up internationally and will now premiere a revamped version as Cranked Up under their big top tent at Birrarung Marr in Melbourne from mid-June.
Circus Oz, a troupe that uses a live band and only human animals, celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2013, premiered From The Ground Up in 2012. The show has now reemerged as Cranked Up after travelling the world and becoming honed and road-hardened.
“That’s the way Circus Oz have always worked,” the company’s artist director Mike Finch, says. “We basically create shows that have a two-year cycle, so we fashioned From The Ground Up with the intention that it would evolve into something else. Our shows have a creative period followed by rehearsals and a big tour and then we go into another creative phase where we tighten it up.
“We’ve just returned from five weeks in New York and a tour along the west coast of the US with From The Ground Up so we are now at that stage, after it’s been seen by thousands of people, where we can have another look at it and revamp it as Cranked Up. It’s a very organic process and we have a director who goes on tour and watches every show and makes notes. So a Circus Oz show is liked a wine that’s slowly ageing.”
From its very beginnings in 1977 in Melbourne, Circus Oz has been seen as a very organic company and also one that has also supported social issues such as women’s rights, environmental concerns, land rights and asylum seekers. The company is also proud that it includes a number of indigenous people among its cast and crew and has Blackrobatics and Blakflip as part of its training programs.
“And a Murri fella has just joined the company and will be in Cranked Up,” Finch reveals. “Mark Sheppard is a clown and a new ingredient in the Circus Oz soup and we’ve developed two or three new acts in the show based around him. And that’s how Circus Oz is different to some companies who lock everything in so it becomes like a factory production line.
“A big part of a Circus Oz show is that it’s a team of artists working together and continually coming up with new ideas,” he then adds. “Audience reaction also determines how one of our shows is going to develop and which direction it will take. If something is obviously not working and getting a reaction, we take it out or try and redevelop it. And we are open to ideas coming from any direction because it’s not like we sit down and write a script. Ideas might come from the lighting operator or stage manager.”
Using an array of physical acrobatic skills that includes death-defying stunts alongside their own brand of cheeky, irreverent humour, Circus Oz have now performed in almost 30 countries and are equally at home in theatres, concert venues or under their big top tent such as will be the case at the Melbourne premiere of Cranked Up. It’s also a show for any age.
“You’ll see kids laughing and they’ll be loving it and then the adults will be laughing at a political joke we’ve dropped in,” Finch concludes. “And adults love it when they see the really little kids screaming with delight. Everyone has a great time and at the end of the performance everyone is unified by a shared experience.”
Circus Oz’s Cranked Up runs under the big top at Birrarung Marr, between Federation Square and Batman Ave, from June 19 to July 14, at various times.
Tickets are available via ticketmaster.com.au
Images: Robert Blackburn
Other Articles You May Like
Penny Plain
Canada’s Ronnie Burkett, an award-winning, world renowned master of puppetry, is bringing Penny Plain to Melbourne for an exclusive Australian…