How to celebrate 20 years of Circa? With a show, of course. Brisbane’s own contemporary circus outfit is probably Australia’s most successful performing arts company internationally.
Under artistic director Yaron Lifschitz, Circa has ranged out across the globe and often people overseas get to see homegrown fare before we do. This latest show, on now in the Playhouse at QPAC, is called What Will Have Been. It has had out-of-town try outs in the UK, France, Germany, Japan and the US, which means they have ironed out the kinks, if there were any.
I couldn’t discern even one kink on opening night and nobody else could either. Coming out, pretty well everyone agreed that this show was one of their best. Possibly their best.
We tend to say that after most Circa shows but this one is special. It’s pared back and features only three acrobats – Daniel O’Brien, Kimberley Rossi and Zachary Stephens – with special guest star Queensland Symphony Orchestra first violin Rebecca Seymour topping and tailing the piece.
What is it about? Well, Lifschitz often tells me, that is probably asking the wrong question, although he does go some way towards answering the question in his program notes.
“Is this the only circus show inspired by grammar?” he asks. “Beloved of continental philosophers, the future anterior tense (or its English equivalent, the future present) is one in which the past becomes true in the future.
“For instance, if, as you politely end your (phone) call entering the theatre tonight, you said to your interlocutor, ‘In an hour, I will have seen this show’ you have a high likelihood of being right. But when, exactly, would you be right? By the time it happens, it has already passed; until it happens, it is in the future. There is literally no present in the future anterior – the past manifests in the future, the future retrospectively fulfils the past’s promises.
“Circus is the artform of the present. You have to be there as bodies risk all, in real time, in that moment. What Will Have Been was born from this delightful tension — how can we embody absence, and create a show whose pasts and futures are searching a shared presence? And what happens when we get there?”
He describes this piece as “like watching a poem written by extremely skilful performers, right in front of us, in a present we inhabit and they are searching for”.
I couldn’t agree more, even though I’m still grappling with his explanation. I may be denser than I thought.
Paring it down to just three performers gives us an intimate insight into the mechanics, if you will. We see the muscles and sinews and skill in focus and it is very impressive.
These acrobats are consummate performers who astound and delight in equal measure. With the grammatical and philosophical theme, I assumed this piece would be serious stuff, like Jean Paul Sarte as a circus show, but it’s quite light hearted at times and there is a segment where European clowning informs the work and we laugh quite a bit.
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At other times we are amazed and moved. Lifschitz’s skilful use of music always influences our responses. He uses haunting melodies by Bach and Vivaldi mixed with a contemporary rock and electronica playlist.
I always find something in his playlist that makes me smile. This time around it was Pale Blue Eyes by The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed’s voice a beautifully haunting presence. A friend told me after the show that made her cry.
It’s a show of pure genius that weights in at just 65 minutes, but it’s one of the most satisfying 65 minutes you will ever spend. And before you go in or after you come out, have a look at the foyer wall which features a timeline telling the story of Circa and their incredible trajectory over the past two decades.
What Will Have Been continues at the Playhouse, QPAC, until March 17; qpac.com.au
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