CIRCA - Camille Saint-Saëns “Carnival of the Animals”

A story on the Circus, I believe, should always start with a short history lesson.  I actually thought I was going to be telling you about the Roman Empire, and how those great edifices to entertainment, violence and mass slaughter, the Roman Circuses, were the precursor to the modern circus. Those great open air entertainment facilities, were actually great race tracks, big enough for chariot races, sea battles and then the battles of Gladiators. The areas were not circular either, but instead two linear race tracks with a curved enclosure at each end. So lesson learnt, the modern racetrack owes its design to the ancient roman empire and for the modern Circus we have to look to more recent history.

The modern circus began in England after the end of the Seven Years War (thats the one where Britain had a barney with France and Spain, then Prussia, Austria  and Russia got involved, anyway it left Europe in a bit of a mess, laid the foundation for future conflicts, but that is another story.  Our story is about Philip Astley ho created what we now know as Circus in 1768. He established a performance arena he called a circle or as it would become known as “circus”.   Ashley had served in the Seven Years War in the 15th Light Dragons Regiment where he showed great talent with horses, and following the war he chose to imitate the trick riders that were performing across Europe. With trick riders as the start he then started to add other elements he took from theatre, clowns, jugglers, tumbling, and rope tricks.  His “circus’ was built on the talents of his artists their strength, agility and ability to connect with an audience.   

Tumble forward  248 years from 1768 and we are at the Griffith Regional Theatre, and we find that Circus is still built on the talents, agility, imagination and strength of it's performing artists. No performing lions, elephants, dogs, seals or monkeys, just the raw and inspiring skill of people.  

Circa’s production of Camille Saint-Saëns “Carnival of the Animals” is an outstanding mix of mime, dance, acrobatics, timing and huge sense of fun and humour.  Created by Yaron Lifschitz, this is a wonderful re-imagining of Camille’s original work, it combines both the old and the state of the art to connect with an audience and leave them spellbound. 

As adults we recognise the music immediately and instantly conjure up lumbering elephants, bouncing kangaroos, collectives of hens and roosters, dinosaurs and herd animals and then the animals from the depths of the ocean. 

Camille Saint-Saëns published this work in 1886 and (according to Wikipedia) was scored for two pianos, two violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute (and piccolo), clarinet (C and B♭), glass harmonica, and xylophone. It has since become one of the most recognisable pieces of classical music because it is used in so many classrooms across the world as teachers introduced movement and music and the evocative nature of this piece was easy to help children imagine the animals and move like them.   This was also helped along by Walt Disney’s reimagining of the work in his 1940’s classic animation Fantasia.

But lets talk about this outstanding production, from Circa.  Circa have been around since 2004 and sit beside Circus Oz, Flying Fruit Fly Circus in delivering performances built on the skills and strength of the ensemble. The ensemble comprises of seven multi-talented performers who have the skills of acrobats, comedians, jugglers, aerialists and musicians. This ensemble capture our attention and especially that of the children immediately, the use of slap stick comedy during the opening sequence as the Circus stage is set, produced giggles of delight from the audience young and old. 

The opening sequence, as the circus stage is set by these travelling troubadour's it introduces the audience to a magical element in the story telling in this production.  The circus tent itself becomes a canvas for a vast and beautifully rendered animation, that the ensemble constantly interact with. Beautifully timed it is like an exquisite ballet, and on such a grand scale.  

The digital animations alone are entrancing as the circus space becomes the various habitats that the various animals featured in Saint-Saëns work live. The performers, then recreate the animals through the use of mime, dance, acrobatics, and aerial antics. The performers bring a whimsy to the animals that instantly make them recognisable to an audience if young and old. The audience is key to this performance, and that is never lost on those on stage, who constantly interact with the audience and two sequences move completely beyond the stage to make this a truly interactive theatre. 

Music weaves us through the collection of animals that Saint-Saëns wants us to meet, and  being a modern circus, the Circa team deliver both the traditional and recognisable, alongside a more modern soundtrack.  While some of the music is recorded, a lot of the time, its the ensemble who are creating the music, at times just using their voices alone. The music is both classic and contemporary, and that connects a modern audience with both today and yesterday.

Its dazzling, and with a few “hold your breath” moments as the performers balanced, flew, tumbled or I think levitated. It provided the very essence of what circus has always been, humans entertaining humans, with nothing more than imaginative story telling, and the ability of the human body to be adaptive, skilful, and strong.  I was watching this group float, fly through the air and jump through hoops and balance on each others shoulders and I was taken back to 1994 when the great Moscow State 

Circus did its first regional tour. While it was 

famous for the performing Russian Bear, what mesmerised me were the incredible acrobatic skills of the performers who could fly through the air with such ease that i thought they were beyond human. These acrobatic artists were the true stars.  

Cirque Du Soliel have recreated the circus as well, moving beyond animals, their highly skilled ensembles tell new and bold stories with evocative names and under seemingly impossible big tops.  With casts of 100’s and 

huge technical crews these events transfix audiences. Circa is not a huge production company, its a small, innovative team, who through imagination, the talents of the design team and the incredible skills of the ensemble on stage deliver a performance that is as evocative as something from Cirque, and yet so accessible that children and adults alike recognise what they see and hear and become immersed in this delicious production. 

The Show runs for 50 mins and has enough energy and bounce to capture and keep the attention of the preschooler as well as the grandparent who had to accompany them. 

I suppose what is a struggle though is understanding how outstanding productions like this have difficulty in gaining traction in the community.  This should have been packed to the rafters, but it wasn’t and surprisingly many who were there tonight only purchased tickets tonight.  The theatre program has some outstanding theatre events in its calendar, they are often priced well below prices paid for the same productions in the capital cities, yet it is struggling to get bums on seats. The Creative Arts tell our human story, whether it be through song, story, visual arts, dance or theatre, our story told on stage is how we understand who we are and where we have come from and where we are going.  We need to be in that theatre space and being to engage more with these stories - because its who we are.