It’s only one week until Slava’s Snowshow returns to Royal Festival Hall by popular demand. Here’s a sneak peek of the snowstorm set to take over Southbank Centre this Christmas!
Filed under: Circus, Family shows, Performance, The Winter Festival | Tagged: christmas, circus, Performance, Royal Festival Hall, Slava's Snowshow, southbank centre, The Winter Festival, theatre, Winter Festival | 4 Comments »
Due to popular demand, Slava’s Snowshow returns to Royal Festival Hall this Christmas. Experience a joyous, dream-like world which will touch both your heart and funny bone, culminating in a breathtaking blizzard leaving you knee-deep in snow!
Filed under: Circus, Performance, The Winter Festival, Theatre | Tagged: christmas, circus, Performance, Royal Festival Hall, Slava's Snowshow, southbank centre, The Winter Festival, theatre | Leave a Comment »
This winter, you can enter a world of pure wonder with this former star clown from Cirque du Soleil, who will have the whole family in stitches.
Julien Cottereau: Imagine Toi, Purcell Room, Thursday 13 – Monday 24 December.
More information/book tickets here.
And now you can hear from the man himself as he lets us in on a few secrets about transforming himself into a monster and more!
How did you discover your talent for mime?
Little by little as a child, when I used to dance at parties. I felt proud when others joined me on the dance floor and would get a bit wilder. I wanted these moments to be inspiring. I still see what I do as ‘funny dancing’.
Can you give us your top miming tip, maybe a sound effect the audience could practise at home?
The best thing to do if you want to mime is to work in front of a silent crowd and mime an invisible object – you must believe that it is real. Then make a story out of it, and that’s all you have to do! It is such an unusual way to tell a story, that everyone will be intrigued and want to know more. To start off, drink from an invisible glass and let your audience know what’s inside, whether you like it, or not, how it affects you… Then share your reactions with us
and let us join in (if we want to, of course!), mocking yourself as you do it… Then you might want to produce the sound effects yourself to make your performance even more irresistible, and even better understood. And the more you do silly things, the funnier you are! The best mime is the silliest clown.
What is your favourite part of the show?
It changes often. Anything that people really enjoy is my favourite part, so maybe the best thing is when I interact with the public the most. These new friends always have something to teach me about how to be innocent and courageous facing the unknown. They are good and humble masters. I would want to be like them on stage forever. They’re my heroes!
The show involves some audience participation and everyone must react differently in each show you do.
How does the ‘not knowing what will happen’ element affect your performance?
As I just said, the audience participation affects the show in the best way. It forces me to stay alert and makes me want to perform the show everywhere with many different playfellows.
Have you ever used your skills at creating sound effects to play a trick on someone?
Yes, often on my four-year-old daughter. When she is naughty (which happens quite regularly), I transform myself into a monster – the same monster that
sometimes appears in my show, actually – then she gets really scared until she remembers all she has to do is cuddle me and I’ll return to my normal self. Then I thank her very much for saving me from being a monster forever.
We’re celebrating winter at Southbank Centre this year.
What’s your favourite thing about winter?
Sometimes the snow and the frost get in the way of our plans, and we have to stop what we’re doing and stay indoors. Suddenly, there is a true solidarity between people and everyone opens up a bit more. Everything stops, it’s silent and we stay at home, feeling lucky not to have to sleep outside. I like winter for that. Nature
holds us in its palm occasionally.
Filed under: Circus, Performance, The Winter Festival | Tagged: Julien Cottereau, Mime, Purcell Room, southbank centre, The Winter Festival | Leave a Comment »
This week we are very excited to welcome the dance and circus show Rouge to the Purcell Room. A collaboration between Cambodian circus school Phare Ponleu Selpak and French dance company Compagnie UBI, Rouge features a cast of exceptional young male performers and a two-piece gamelan band.
Last weekend the show had its premiere at the Milton Keynes International Festival. The Stage describes the show as “thought-provoking and challenging viewing” and praises the performers for their “excellent circus skills”.
Click here to read The Stage’s full review
Rouge runs from Wednesday 25 – Friday 27 July in the Purcell Room at Southbank Centre, and tickets for these performances are still available. Click here to book
Filed under: Circus, Dance | Tagged: Cambodia, Cambodian, Compagnie UBI, Phare Ponleu Selpak, Rouge | Leave a Comment »
‘Daniele Finzi Pasca’s name alone means you’re in for something special. After all, his previous shows include the gorgeous sky trilogy of Nomade, Rain and Nebbia for Cirque Eloize, and Corteo for Cirque du Soleil. He has described his ability to come up with one masterpiece after another as similar to having children. It just happens.
Now Finzi Pasca’s gaze falls on Chekhov and, after studying his diaries and works, he has created the playful Donka. Apparently Chekhov loved circus – who doesn’t these days? – and magical visual trickery and circus acts of startling brilliance are threaded with elements of his writing and interests. It helps if you know the stories but everyone will recognise the three sisters (here bickering on static trapeze), his work as a doctor and his love of fishing, alongside references to suicide and death.
Evocative music from Maria Bonzanigo, Giovanna Buzzi’s glorious period costumes, Roberto Vitalini’s filmic video projections and Finzi Pasca’s own graphic lighting help conjure a dream world where anything might happen.
Many of the extraordinary international circus artists, dancers and musicians are as supple as contortionists and all of them sing. The silhouette/shadow-play sequences and trompe l’oeil acrobatics are exceptional and you won’t see more beautiful work on Cyr wheel than that of David Menes, whose acro-balance number with Karen Bernal is unique and whose juggling skills also impress. Revealing all the surprises would spoil things but it is worth crawling through fire for the exquisite first act finale.
Strange and surreal, funny and fun, Donka is simply dazzling.’
(Liz Arratoon, The Stage)
‘This is the stuff of delirious dreams, in which strange images bleed into each other… the level of skill is remarkable.’ (Lyn Gardner, The Guardian)
Filed under: Circus, Performance | Tagged: circus, Daniele Finzi Pasca, Donka, Queen Elizabeth Hall, southbank centre | Leave a Comment »
‘Cantina is clearly the hottest ticket in town.’ ★★★★ (London Evening Standard)
‘Cantina is the most divinely decadent and disconcerting entertainment in town.’ ★★★★ (Daily Telegraph)
‘Superb… Carnival with a dash of David Lynch.’ ★★★★ (Time Out)
‘It’s a night of jaw-dropping highlights… you couldn’t tear your eyes away.’ ★★★★ (Metro)
‘Atmospherically perfect. Takes you by the throat and doesn’t let go.’ (The Stage)
‘If Tim Burton had created a circus, it might look a bit like this.’ (Official London Theatre)
Filed under: Circus, Performance, Priceless London Wonderground | Tagged: Cantina, circus, Priceless London Wonderground, southbank centre | Leave a Comment »
In June, Priceless London Wonderground welcomes Tumble Circus to the spiegeltent! Ireland’s award-winning, dynamic acrobatic duo peel back the canvas to reveal the human side of circus. No fanfare or sequins, just the extraordinary skill and passion of two carnies on a lifelong adventure. Featuring flying hula hoops, slapstick acrobatics, stunning aerial rope and daring double trapeze, this autobiographical circus comedy has wowed audiences of all ages, the world over.
‘Turning the circus tradition upside down’ (Irish Times)
‘Funny and flexible with great comic timing,…very impressive’ (Advertiser)
Kenneth Fall – one half of the Tumble Circus duo – talks about the creation of their award-winning show:
‘This is what we do for a living’ was made in January 2010. We uprooted ourselves form wintery east Belfast to sunny Melbourne Australia and hunted down long time collaborator Trent Birdmann. We divied our creation time between 2 circus warehouses in Brunswick. The show had been initially called ‘Nouvelle Carny Part Two’, and was to be a sort of best of Tumble Circus. But this vague thene became too ambiquous and boring and after a night out and eating, drinking and seeing the brilliant Daniel Kitson we wondered if there was something more poetic that we could create using our circus skills and comedy.
The show opened at the Adelaide Fringe festival in 2010. We further developed the show in 2011 and returned to Adelaide in 2012 and won ‘Best physical theater and circus show.’
Filed under: Circus, Priceless London Wonderground | Tagged: circus, Comedy, Priceless London Wonderground, southbank centre, Tumble Circus | Leave a Comment »
Book now for the UK premiere of Donka, ‘a journey of visual and choreographic elegance and playful humour’ (Irish Times) directed by award-winning Daniele Finzi Pasca.
‘Pure joy and wonderment’ (The Gazette, Canada)
‘There are times in the exquisite Donka when you can feel your heart literally rise in your chest’
(The West Australian)
Catch Donka at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall from 2-8 June 2012. Get tickets here.
Filed under: Circus, Performance | Tagged: circus, Daniele Finzi Pasca, Donka, london, Queen Elizabeth Hall, southbank centre | Leave a Comment »
In June, Southbank Centre welcomes the UK premiere of Donka – a tale of circus, magic and mischief, directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca.
Daniele Finzi Pasca was born in Switzerland, in 1964. Director, author and choreographer, Daniele has had a life-long fascination with clowning.
He was sentenced to a short stay in prison for acting as a conscientious objector and during that time, he put the finishing touches to his trilogy dedicated to ‘escape’. One part was Icaro, which has run for more than 20 years around the world in six different languages.
The years that followed saw Finzi Pasca direct 25 shows with his company Teatro Sunil and write and direct for Cirque Eloize Nomade and Rain. After the success of Rain on Broadway, he was nominated Best Director for a Drama Desk Award in New York.
Cirque du Soleil asked him to write and direct their new show, Corteo, which opened in 2005 to rave reviews. He was also asked to direct the closing ceremony of the XXth Olympic Winter Games in Torino in 2006.
In 2009, he co-founded ‘Inlevitas’, a company for the development of new projects, including film and operas such as L´amour de loin for the English National Opera.
Daniele was commissioned by the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow to direct Donka which opened the 150th celebration of Chekhov’s birth, in 2010.
In 2011 he directed Verdi’s Aida for the prestigious Mariinsky Theatre, as well as a new version of Carmina Burana for the inauguration of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Catch Donka at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall from 2 – 8 June 2012. Get tickets here.
Filed under: Circus | Tagged: circus, Daniele Finzi Pasca, Donka, Queen Elizabeth Hall, southbank centre | 3 Comments »
