Cirque Oz visits Royce Hall at UCLA on their tour schedule (2/13) “Preview and Tickets”
For the past 34 years, Circus Oz has performed to millions of people in over 26 countries across five continents, has broken box office records at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and is considered the gold standard for contemporary circus all over the world. These awe-inspiring Aussies will bring their death defying Circus Oz: From the Ground Up Tour, (which comes with the warning “so funny you might wet your pants”) to Los Angeles’ Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA February 7-10, 2013.
While many of the acts are new, the spectacle is vintage Circus Oz, an ode to vaudeville and a spin on the classic animal-free variety show circus. Featuring live rock music and larrikin irreverence, musicians double as acrobats, acrobats double as jugglers, jugglers double as trapeze artists, all in a world where everyone is a comic. Two indigenous performers from the company’s Blakrobatics Indigenous Master Class program are the newest talents to join the 14-member Circus Oz ensemble, one that is a State air guitar champion!
The famous Charles C. Ebbets 1932 photograph, New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam, was the inspiration behind the imagery, set and costumes for this new show. A huge construction beam is a focal piece of the circus set and facilitates the daring aerial performances and stunt mastery that will fly across the CAP UCLAstage.
The acrobatic, ceiling scraping, rope swinging show of death-defying feats is driven by the theme of construction – the construction of a new custom-built Circus Precinct for the company in their home town of Melbourne and the building of a society where everyone is welcome.
“The theme of the show takes us back to our own identity,” said Mike Finch, Artistic Director of Circus Oz. “What does it mean to be Australian? We are all really into the idea that we’re building it from the ground up into a diverse community of people.”
Circus Oz: From the Ground Updebuted in the U.S. on November 30, 2012 with a month of stunt jumping hilarity at The New Victory Theater in New York City. The New York Times coined the spectacle premiere “…a good one: a little naughty, a little nice, a little death defying.”
Circus Oz: From the Ground Upis directed by Mike Finch with tour direction by Ed Boyle. Lighting design is by Jenny Hector, sound design by Chris Braun, costume design by Circus Oz founding member Laurel Frank and rhythm choreography, with permission from Torres Strait elders, by Ghenoa Gela. All of the music is created and performed by the rocking Circus Oz band. The show is recommended for children over the age of five and adults. Tickets are $15 – $65 and available online.