Circus Oz is a

contemporary circus Contemporary circus (also known as new circus, and ''nouveau cirque'' and ''cirque contemporain'' in French-speaking countries) is a genre of performing arts developed in the late 20th century in which a story or theme is conveyed through tradit ...

company based in Australia, collectively owned by its Membership, founded in 1977. Its shows incorporate theatre, satire,

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

and a uniquely Australian humour.

History

Early years

Circus Oz was incorporated in December 1977 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and funded by the

Australian Performing Group The Australian Performing Group (APG) was a Melbourne-based experimental theatre repertory ensemble formed in an official capacity in 1970 from the La Mama theatre group. Created to address a dissatisfaction with Australia's theatrical climate, th ...

, with its first performance season in March 1978. Circus Oz was the amalgamation of two already well-known groups: the New Ensemble Circus, a continuation of the New Circus, established in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1973; and the

Soapbox Circus A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipmen ...

, a roadshow set up by the

in 1976. The founding members were: Sue Broadway, Tony Burkys, Tim Coldwell, John ‘Jack’ Daniel, Laurel Frank, Kevin Gedye, Jon Hawkes, Ponch Hawkes, Robin Laurie, John Pinder, Michael Price, Alan Robertson, Jim Robertson, Pixie Roberstson, Helen Sky, Jim Conway,

Mic Conway Mic Conway (born 15 February 1951) is an Australian vocalist and with his brother, Jim Conway, was a co-founder of the 1970s humour, theatre and rock group, The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band.McFarlane (1999). Encyclopedia entry for . Retrieved 3 ...

, Rick Ludbrook, Peter Mulheisen, Gordon McLean, Steve Cooney and Colin Stevens. Significant developments in Circus Oz's early years included: a 32-week season in 1979 at the Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant in Melbourne; the company's first international tour in 1980 (including London's Roundhouse,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

); the "Nanjing Project" (Chinese acrobatic master classes); and the group's relations with

The Flying Fruit Fly Circus The Flying Fruit Fly Circus is Australia's national youth circus, and the only full-time circus school for young people in Australia. History The Flying Fruit Fly Circus was one of the productions of the Murray River Performing Group, initiall ...

. As part of its international touring, Circus Oz has been to 29 countries and 210 cities all over the world, including New York City, London and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Linda Mickleborough became general manager of Circus Oz in 1993. During her time at the helm she was responsible for the development of Circus Oz Classes, High Flying Teams and

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

programs, and laid the preparations for a move to new premises at Collingwood. She resigned effective from 31 December 2012. In August 2012, Mike Finch was artistic director, and founding member Tim Coldwell was still on the board.

Wendy McCarthy Wendy Elizabeth McCarthy (born 22 July 1941 in , New South Wales) is an Australian businesswoman, activist and former university administrator. McCarthy has worked for reform across the public, private and community sectors, in education, fami ...

was chair.

2013: new premises

In late 2013 Circus Oz relocated to a new custom-built home base in Collingwood, an inner suburb of

. The

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

owns the facility, but was designed specifically to Circus Oz's requirements. This location includes a permanent

Spiegeltent A spiegeltent (Dutch for "mirror tent", from ''spiegel''+''tent'') is a large travelling tent, constructed from wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass, intended as an entertainment venue. Originally built in Belgium during ...

, large rehearsal spaces, outdoor areas, and workshop and props-making facilities. The buildings are approximately half of an abandoned college campus, the remainder of which was converted by

Arts Victoria The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

into a multi-arts and community precinct known as

Collingwood Yards Collingwood Yards is a not-for-profit arts organization and arts precinct located in Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Collingwood Yards hosts visual artists, musicians, performers and a range of arts organisations across a large i ...

, which opened in March 2021.

December 2021: closure announcement

In December 2021, it was announced by the Board and CEO at the time that a decision had been taken to close the company, after its main funding body the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

had given the choice of reforming its structure or losing its funding. The proposal involved recreating its board and membership with a reduced proportion of artists and former employees. The results of an anonymous online poll showed that 62 out of 81 votes chose to reject the new model. During 2021, the company had been the subject of an independent review, commissioned jointly by

Creative Victoria Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...

and the Australia Council, which had concluded that "systemic issues ereholding back the company", and recommended that membership criteria be broadened that the board should be made up entirely of members based on their skills and qualifications. Company members were shocked by the sudden announcement. , their website announced a change of use for the Circus Oz venue.

The company

Values

The founders wanted to create a "contemporary circus" (words used in their show programme "history" as early as 1980), with elements of rock'n'roll, popular theatre and satire. The company had an ongoing

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

agenda and was open about supporting humanitarian causes. Over the years this has included

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use ...

for

indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

and strong feelings about the plight of

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and mi ...

s. The company had an ongoing

agenda and have generally been open about supporting humanist causes. Over the years this has included

, land rights for First Nations Australians and strong opposition to the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.

Shows

One of the first "new" or "contemporary" circuses without animals (it predates

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

by several years), Circus Oz made shows with only 12 multi-skilled performers who all performed the entire show, doing "a bit of everything", from

acrobatics Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...

and

clowning A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in t ...

to music and aerial work. The shows were usually comic and character-driven. The cast comprised a diverse mix of body shapes and ages, with an equal number of men and women. Their style was generally cheeky, anarchic and subversive, a balance of strong women and graceful men. Circus Oz performed in at least 27 countries across five continents, including four seasons on 42nd Street in New York City, a number of seasons at Queen Elizabeth and

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

s in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, a

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

Indigenous communities Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

in the Australian desert and a glass opera house in the Brazilian rainforest. Shows were translated and performed in many languages, including

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

and

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

. The troupe broke box office records at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and represented Australia at many international festivals. With the exception of its first show, ''Waiter, There's a Circus in My Soup'', Circus Oz did not name their seasons or tours until 2006, with the ''Laughing at Gravity'' tour. Each subsequent tour was then named until 2017. * ''Laughing at Gravity'' (2006) * ''Barely Contained'' (2009-2010) * ''See It To Believe It'' (2010) * ''Steampowered'' (2011-2012) * ''From the Ground Up'' (2012) * ''Cranked Up'' (2013) * ''But Wait...There's More'' (2014-2016) * ''Twentysixteen'' (2016) * ''Model Citizens'' (2017) * ''Precarious'' (2018-2019) * ''Rock Bang'' (2018-2019)

Ensemble

Until 2017, the company employed a full-time ensemble of 12 performers (an equal number of men and women), plus a technical crew, production and artistic departments. Apart from touring nationally and internationally with their various shows, other parts of Circus Oz include: *BLAKFlip, a programme connecting Australian Aboriginal performers and artists with the circus, including masterclasses, casting, performances, traineeships and guest artists; *Circus Classes, public circus classes for the general public, adults, schools, and community groups to learn circus skills; *The Melba

, a venue with a programme of cabaret, innovative performance, and local community events; *SideSault, a Sector Support Programme, providing access to space for a selected series of small/medium-sized local performance groups (primarily using a circus vocabulary); *High Flying Teams, a corporate team-building and training programme using circus as a skill-base for corporate training.

Footnotes

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

*{{cite web , title=Circus in Australia , website= Culture and Recreation Portal, publisher = Australian Government, date=21 February 2005 , url=http://cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/circus/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823095203/http://cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/circus/ , archive-date=23 August 2006 , url-status=dead
The Circus Oz Living Archive
(now archived and limited access) Australian circuses 1977 establishments in Australia Entertainment companies established in 1977 Performing groups established in 1977