The exploration of comedic and presentation skills also establishes a genuine connection with their younger audience members while at the same time creating a striking contrast with the advanced technical routines. Seeing a young artist shyly engage with the crowd, only to flawlessly execute a complex aerial silks or Chinese pole routine, ultimately highlights the remarkable level of talent on display.
Lynden Jones
4 Stars
Sydney Opera House: Studio Theatre
Sydney
With its beginnings as a school holiday program for the Murray River Performing Group in1979, Fling Fruit Fly Circus is now Australia’s national youth circus and the only full-time circus school for young people in Australia. Pay No Attention is the company’s latest production and is inspired by the journey a young person takes as they begin to navigate and find their own identities. The theme of teenagers trying on, discarding, evolving, reinventing, running from or diving into different personas, is also being reflected as the performers test out and stretch their acrobatic, comedic, storytelling and performance skills.
While this is a group of 11- to 17-year-old acrobats in training, do not assume this will be anything other than a highly skilled production. Any routine performed would have been met with applause and awe if done by an adult. These are very highly skilled performers, and it was a delight to watch.
The exploration of comedic and presentation skills also establishes a genuine connection with their younger audience members while at the same time creating a striking contrast with the advanced technical routines. Seeing a young artist shyly engage with the crowd, only to flawlessly execute a complex aerial silks or Chinese pole routine, ultimately highlights the remarkable level of talent on display.
In the hour-long production, we witness Aerial Hoop, silks and straps along with juggling and ground-based acrobatics just to name a few. We took along our two children (5 and 8) and they are still talking about the bits they loved. For reference it was the Chinese Pole, the human totem pole, the juggling and of course, the entire audience’s favourite – the human cannon ball.
Gymnastics is a huge hit with my 5-year-old, and she’s pumped for the next semester now. Honestly, I’m slightly terrified of what stunts she’ll try to pull off after witnessing this production. My 8 year old was also inspired by the craft and bewitched by the performances (He even thrilled his mum, a former lighting technician, by pointing out the cool lighting effects). You are doing something right when the kids leave with that level of inspiration.
It feels like we are in a bit of a golden era for circus now, with regular high end ‘Cirque’ touring shows, festivals packed with circus skilled acts for kids and a plethora of adult-themed, burlesque circus companies having cocktail-sipping titillating performances in the evenings. There was something soothing about watching young performers perform for young audience members. The future of the craft is in good hands… and feet.
Lynden Jones, Theatre Now
