Circa is based in Meanjin (Brisbane) on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbal people. We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the many lands on which we create and perform. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
Photo by Daniel Boud or Nick Mitmanski
Photo by Lin Chun-yung
136 TOURING WORKSHOPS
1,250 HOURS OF WORKSHOPS & CLASSES
TOURED 96 CITIES
TOURED 17 COUNTRIES OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA
33K FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS
41K INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS
13.4K VIMEO PLAYS
96K WEBSITE SESSIONS
63K WEBSITE USERS
218K WEBSITE PAGE VIEWS
Company Statement
Circa’s work is a love letter to a species that’s not always easy to like. Our circus is about what it means to be human. Our capacity for connection, for chaos, for grace under pressure. It is a striving, an effort to make something worthy of the people who give us their attention, their time, their willingness to be moved.
This year, that letter travelled far.
Wolf roamed from Berlin to Vancouver to Edinburgh, returning to Chamäleon for an encore season running into 2026. Raw, primal, uncompromising. A show about the untamed thing in all of us. Audiences in packed tents and theatres reminded us what it means to work with courage.
Duck Pond continued its run across continents. Quebec City. Pennsylvania. Cairns. Feathers flew. Children gasped. Adults remembered what it felt like to gasp. The work we make for families proved again that “for everyone” does not mean diluted.
In Paris, En Masse filled the Philharmonie with Schubert’s tender songs of loss and the ferocious energy of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Ten acrobats and three musicians exploring what happens when groups fracture and reform, when endings become beginnings.
In Edinburgh, Orpheus and Eurydice played to full houses at the International Festival while, just down the hill, Wolf shook the Fringe.
Our most extensive Australian regional tour took work deep into communities across the country.
Our new creations this year were grounded in classical music. Wolfgang in the Stars brought surrealism, enchantment and space dinosaurs together in a galactic adventure. Daphnis and Chloé celebrated the London Philharmonic with Ravel’s luminous masterpiece. Art of Fugue, created with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, went deep into Bach’s immortal music. Together, these works took on some of the most complex scores ever written, bringing bold embodiment and fresh perspective.
Circa Academy, Circability and Circa Cairns delivered year-round programmes providing access and opportunity, contributing fresh artistic perspectives and new voices.
As I write, our ensemble is in Manchester for the European premiere of Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show. Aardman’s beloved characters meet our physicality.
Wolf plays Berlin. Humans 2.0 closes its year in Taiwan.
An injured pigeon can fly higher than the best acrobat; a snake bends further than any contortionist. Yet it is precisely because we are human that these physical feats acquire dignity. In our limitations lie our possibilities. We are all capable of more.
Looking ahead, in 2026 Christina Zauner becomes Circa’s Associate Artistic Director and Daniel
YARON LIFSCHITZ ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND CEO
SHAUN COMERFORD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CCO
O’Brien our Head of Circus. These appointments are central to how we grow and build something that lasts.
2026 brings new creations, fresh work heading out into the world, collaborations we are excited about, and repertoire touring across Australia and beyond.
Thank you to everyone who sat in the dark with us this year and let their eyes fill with wonder.
Thank you to the presenters, funding agencies and partners who make this possible.
And thank you to this team. Extraordinary humans who trust us with their time and effort, and each other with their bodies and their creative lives.
Circus that moves the world. That is what we are aiming for. Some days, we get close.
DAN
KELLIE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND COO
ANN SHERRY AO CHAIR
by David Kelly
Photo
New Creations
Photo by Laura Manariti
WOLFGANG IN THE STARS
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, part time genius, fulltime rat-bag, can’t finish his lullaby. The final notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star have slipped away, so he builds a rocket and blasts into space to find them, with his best friend – a faithful circus bear – in tow.
On their adventure they tumble through galaxies where asteroids lurk and space dinosaurs roar. But there’s a catch! A galactic glitch threatens to strand them light-years from home. To chart a course back to Earth, Wolfgang learns that sometimes, to find your melody, you need a little stardust…and your best friend by your side.
Wolfgang in the Stars is a show for all ages, bursting with acrobatics, live video projections, puppetry and music. Because imagination travels faster than light, and no good story ever obeyed the laws of physics.
TOURED TO
18-22 June 2025
Brisbane, Australia
Concert Hall, QPAC
9 July 2025
Wyong, Australia
The Art House
16-19 July 2025
Parramatta, Australia
Riverside Theatre
WORLD PREMIERE SEASON
Premiere Date 18 June 2025
Performances 18
Audience 8,691
Created by Yaron Lifschitz and
the Circa
ensemble
Wolfgang in the Stars is commissioned by QPAC, The Art House Wyong, Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre and Riverside Theatres Parramatta.
Originally Produced By: QPAC’s Out of the Box and Circa
Joyful, imaginative and just the right amount of ridiculous.
Stage Whispers
Five out of five twinkling stars.
Stage Whispers
The cast are sensational. The acrobatics are everything we’ve come to expect from Circa: daring, muscular, lyrical.
Stage Whispers
Charmingly absurd and surprisingly touching voyage through space, time and friendship.
Stage Whispers
A must see. Radiant, ridiculous and deeply human.
Weekend Notes …nothing short of a theatrical supernova.
Weekend Notes
Touching and hilariously absurd.
Weekend Notes
Photo by David Kelly
DAPHNIS AND CHLOÉ
The sumptuous beauty of Daphnis et Chloé’s, its bold rhythmic variety and stunning orchestration inspired Stravinsky to rightly declare it as ‘one of the most beautiful products of all French music’.
Yet Ravel’s orchestral masterpiece is a ballet that resists staging, rarely being performed as a ballet.
The collaboration between orchestra and gravitydefying circus teases out a world as intriguing, sensual and strange as the music itself with dramatic group acrobatics, intimate duos and aerial solos.
TOURED TO 23 April 2025
London, United Kingdom
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
WORLD PREMIERE
Premiere Date 23 April 2025
Performances 2
Audience 5,200
Prepare to be transported by the sumptuous movement of the acrobats, gesturing at longing and our capacity for wonder and providing a physical analogue to the rich beauty of Ravel’s score.
Performed after the main ballet, La Valse is the opposite of Daphnis et Chloé – it is the carousel of Western culture centrifuging out of control; like World War 1, it shatters the idyll of romanticism. Its energy transfers with abandon and fury to the bodies of Circa’s acrobats.
Powerful, beautiful stuff, and a most extraordinary evening.
The Guardian
by
Photo
Pete Woodhead
Created by Yaron Lifschitz with the Circa Ensemble World premiere season featuring London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Singers and the Circa Ensemble Commissioned by Southbank Centre
Photo by David Kelly or Keith Saunders
THE ART OF FUGUE
Eighty-five minutes of breathtaking physical performance.
Limelight
The fluidity and balance of the ensemble’s movement are as beautiful as its strength and agility are astonishing.
Limelight
The Daily Telegraph seamless marriage of music, balletic tumbling and mindblowing balancing acts.
In a word: unforgettable.
Weekend Notes left the audience both breathless and reverent.
Weekend Notes
Circa and the Brandenburg didn’t just interpret Bach— they inhabited him.
Weekend Notes a masterclass in restraint and refinement—understated, but never subdued.
Weekend Notes
Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue meets the physicality of contemporary acrobatics.
The Brandenburg, renowned for its spirited reimagining of the Baroque, joins forces again with Circa in a performance that pushes the limits of both mind and body. The complex structure and intellectual depth of Bach’s work is brought to life by Paul Dyer and the Brandenburg’s interpretation, while Circa’s ensemble, led by Yaron Lifschitz, responds with choreography that defies gravity and holds the audience still.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz with the Circa Ensemble with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and its Artistic Director, Paul Dyer
Commissioned by the Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, and the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center.
TOURED TO
5 August 2025
Brisbane, Australia
Concert Hall, QPAC
7-10 August 2025
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne Recital Centre
12-16 August 2025
Sydney, Australia
City Recital Hall
WORLD PREMIERE
Premiere Date 5 August 2025
Performances 9
Audience 8,791
Touring
Image by Roger Robin.
WOLF
Ten Circa artists grasp, tear, climb, leap and balance with fierce abandon, clad in Libby McDonnell’s form-hugging costumes and set to Ori Lichtik’s relentless primal rhythms.
The wolf is a symbol of our untameable selves: liberating, anarchic and savage. In two contrasting acts, the wolves evolve from disruptive forces of chaos into a ferocious pack whose choreographies overflow with raw energy and physical daring.
Wolf is circus with fangs. Join the pack.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa ensemble Produced by Circa and Chamäleon Berlin Co-produced by La Comète
A work of art that makes you hold your breath every second.
Kulturvolk
Circa has once again redefined what contemporary circus can be.
Arts Hub
You won’t see anything better on Berlin stages at the moment.
Online Merker
…group artistry in perfect choreography.
Berlin Morgenpost
…like Berghain meets a gym.
Berliner Zeitung
Keeping things fresh and exciting is a heavy responsibility for artistic director Yaron Lifschitz, but one which he rises to time and time again.
The Scotsman
by
TOURED TO
2-5 January 2025
Berlin, Germany
Chamäleon Theatre
30 June - 14 July 2025
Hapaag Lloyd Cruises, Germany
MV Europa 2
24-26 July 2025
Aberdeen, UK
His Majesty’s Theatre
1-23 August 2025
Edinburgh, UK
Underbelly
10-13 September 2025
Dusseldorf, Germany
Theaterzelt, Burgplatz
17 September 2025
Mamer, Luxembourg
Kinneksbond - Centre Culturel
Mamer
19 September 2025
Leuven, Belgium
VZW 30CC
21 September 2025
Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium
Cultuurcentrum Zwaneberg
24-28 September 2025
Barcelona, Spain
Teatro Coliseum
1-19 October 2025
Vancouver, Canada
The Cultch
23 October - 31 December 2025
Berlin, Germany
Chamaleon Theatre
12-15 November 2025
Brisbane, Australia
Playhouse, QPAC
Performances 142
Audience 36,566
Photo
Nick Mitmanski
A masterful presentation of exhilarating talent. Standing Innovation
A wonderfully polished take on modern circus. The Age
Messing with Swan Lake is a risky business. You wouldn’t want to do that unless you were a bit of a genius. It so happens Yaron Lifschitz is.
In Queensland
by Daniel Boud
Photo
DUCK POND
Circa’s take on Swan Lake, reimagined as a circus spectacular full of signature physicality, cheeky humour and contemporary energy.
A tale of swans and hapless princes, with a sequinned flipper-wearing duck army and a burlesque black swan. Aerials, acrobatics, and feathers. Touching, funny and thoroughly entertaining, Duck Pond is about identity and finding your true self.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz with the Circa Ensemble
Duck Pond is co-commissioned by QPAC and The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, The Art House Wyong, Frankston Arts Centre, HOTA - Home of the Arts, Merrigong Theatre Company and Orange Civic Theatre.
TOURED TO 4-6 January 2025
Gothenburg, Sweden
Stora Teatern
22-25 January 2025
Vancouver, Canada
The Cultch
1 February 2025
Toronto, Canada
Meridian Arts Centre
5-9 February 2025
Montreal, Canada
TOHU
13-15 February 2025
Quebec City, Canada
Le Diamant
21-22 March 2025
Penn State, USA
Eisenhower Auditorium, Penn State University
26 April - 1 May 2025
Madrid, Spain
Teatro Circo Price
21-22 August 2025
Darwin, Australia
Darwin Entertainment Centre
29-30 August 2025
Cairns, Australia
Cairns Performing Arts Centre
2 September 2025
Rockhampton, Australia
Pilbeam Theatre
4 September 2025
Toowoomba, Australia
Empire Theatre
6 September 2025
Caloundra, Australia
The Events Centre
10 September 2025
Ballarat, Australia
Her Majesty’s Theatre
12-13 September 2025
Geelong, Australia
Geelong Arts Centre
18-20 September 2025
Canberra, Australia
Canberra Theatre Centre - The Playhouse
25-27 September 2025
Hobart, Australia
Theatre Royal
2 October 2025
Frankston, Australia
Frankston Arts Centre
4 October 2025
Nunawading, Australia
The Round
Boldly dramatic in its chaos and also charmingly magical in its whimsy.
Blue Curtains Brisbane
8 October 2025
Goulburn, Australia
Goulburn Performing Arts Centre
11 October 2025
Orange, Australia
Orange Civic Theatre
15 October 2025
Wagga Wagga, Australia Wagga Wagga Civic Centre
18 October 2025
Griffith, Australia
Griffith Regional Theatre
22-25 October 2025
Wollongong, Australia
Illawarra Theatre
30 October 2025
Wyong, Australia
The Art House
1 November 2025
Dubbo, Australia
Dubbo Regional Theatre & Convention Centre
Performances 57
Audience 27,876
Hugely entertaining and impressive. Limelight
by
WHAT WILL HAVE BEEN
Experience a new level of circus mastery – as moving as it is thrilling.
What Will Have Been is the most challenging show in Circa’s repertoire for their performers.
Three acrobats and one violinist perform live on a bare stage, drawing audiences into an astoundingly rich world of pure muscularity and strength, and serenaded with the haunting melodies of Bach and Vivaldi mixed with a contemporary playlist. Where beauty meets ferocity, expect to leave this performance feeling breathless.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz with the Circa Ensemble A Norfolk and Norwich Festival commission
TOURED TO 11 January 2025
Chatham, USA
PS21
Performances 1
Audience 107
A work of immense power... masterly re-defining. The Public Reviews
...as breathtaking as ever… you could have heard a pin drop. Norwich Evening News
...circus at its purest and most thrilling... utterly captivating. Daily Review
Circa is spare of costume, prop and space. Rather, it focuses on circus as an essential human art, exploring the physical and emotional possibilities of acrobatic physicality. The Edge
Photo
Andy Phillipson
SACRE
Ten acrobats from the Circa ensemble bring Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring to the circus stage. Pulsating with tension and infused with dark humour, this production confronts humanity’s interconnectedness, our inherent desire and our relationship with divinity.
Featuring lighting by Veronique Benett and a composition by Philippe Bachman for the first half, Sacre is physical, sensory and unflinching.
Beyond the mesmerising appreciation for the performers’ skillful proficiency and physical risks taken, Sacre communicates a deeper sense of the essential humanity we all share in seeking sensual and soulful connection and relationship.
LA Art Part
…will mesmerise you from the very beginning.
Broadway World
Place Circa’s Sacre in a distinguished art gallery in Europe and it would seem perfectly in place.
Van City Vince
Photo by Pedro Greig or Robert Torres
by Laura
BEETHOVEN 9
Ten world-class circus artists present Beethoven’s music in its rebellious physical form.
Human drama is writ large in Beethoven 9, with choreography intricately woven to reflect the score. Skill and dramatic acrobatics play out in this moving work, where the lines between movement, music, dance and theatre blur.
Beethoven 9 with Circa was commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday in 2020.
TOURED TO 23-25 January 2025 Santiago, Chile CEAC
Performances 4
Audience 3,648
Circa’s interpretation of the 9th was visceral… shifting between shadow and light, contorting into living sculptures both grotesque and elegant, and all too human. Limelight Magazine
A rich and thrilling demonstration of the emotional and choreographic potential of contemporary circus, juxtaposing moments of almost balletic grace alongside jaw-dropping feats of strength and skill, set to one of the greatest pieces of orchestral music ever written.
Arts Hub
Lifschitz created an extremely sympathetic embodiment of the score, impressively executed by 10 performers. The Age
Photo
Manariti
by
RITE
Ten acrobats put their bodies on the line in The Rite of Spring, the basis of dances and ballets for over a hundred years but never circus, until now. Circa’s ensemble, under the direction of Yaron Lifschitz, takes on Stravinsky’s masterpiece.
Rite unleashes the primal energy that runs through us all. Bodies hurl, flow, twist, pulse and collide in an ecstatic tribal circus ritual.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa ensemble
TOURED TO 20-22 February 2025
Brisbane, Australia
Queensland Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall, QPAC
Performances 3
Audience 3,000
…ingenious Circa reached stratospheric heights in a world first circus interpretation.
Limelight
Stravinsky would have revered Circa’s incredible acrobatic interpretation.
Limelight
The performances of The Rite of Spring – both musical and physical – were an unforgettable testament to the way art can transcend boundaries, create new experiences, and challenge our perceptions of what is possible.
Weekend Notes
Photo
Sam Muller
An occasionally literal ground-breaking feat of acrobatics that takes the form into exciting new areas.
The List
… spellbinding physical drama, with just the right amount of play, death-defying tricks and whimsical imagery.
The Conversation
by Billie
Photo
Wilson-Coffey
HUMANS 2.0
Ten bodies appear in a flash of light. They move in harmony for a fleeting moment and then descend into a sinuous trance. Towers grow and decay, bodies leap and are caught, as physical limits are pushed to their extreme. Can we ever find a perfect balance, or is adapting to constant change the only way forward?
This next chapter of Humans is a tightly woven choreography of bodies, pulsing with music by Ori Lichtik and revealed in Paul Jackson’s dramatic lighting. Created by Yaron Lifschitz, Humans 2.0 is intimate, primal and deeply engaged with the challenge of being human.
Commissioned by The Mondavi Center, UC Davis
TOURED TO 5 March 2025
Argenteuil, France
Le Figuier Blanc
7 March 2025
Roubaix, France
Le Colisée Roubaix
9 March 2025
Caudry, France
Theatre de Caudry
21 March 2025
Oyonnax, France
Centre Culturel Aragon
25 March 2025
Thonon les Bains, France
Publier, Cité de l’eau, Salle Olympe
26-29 March 2025
Annecy, France
Bonlieu Scene Nationale
1-2 April 2025
Cholet, France
Théâtre Saint-Louis
A flawless display of human physicality is the soul stir five-star highlight. The Scotsman
1 April 2025
Beaver, USA
Vilar Performing Arts Center
8 April 2025
Santa Barbara, USA University of California
13 April 2025
Scottsdale, USA
Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts
2-25 May 2025
Melbourne, Australia Arts Centre Melbourne
20-24 May 2025
Brighton, UK
Theatre Royal
3-4 June 2025
Furth, Germany
Stadttheater Fürth
19 June 2025
Darmstadt, Germany
Staatstheater Darmstadt
22 June 2025
Mannheim, Germany
OPAL - Nathionaltheater
17 August - 19 October 2025
Berlin, Germany
Chamäleon Theatre
22 October 2025
Aspen, USA Wheeler Opera House
25 October 2025
Rohnert Park, USA Sonoma State University
1-3 November 2025
Stanford, USA
Bing Concert Hall
13-14 December 2025
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Weiwuying Arts Centre
Performances 103
Audience 41,443
[Humans 2.0] pushes the boundaries of what circus and acrobatics can be.
Time Out
…impressive and sophisticated contemporary New Circus at its best.
Berlin Morning Post
…70 minutes of wonder … perfectly timed, perfectly executed, perfectly staged. Courier Mail
Jaw-dropping, seatclawing and armchairexhausting. ArtsHub
...an evening so remarkable as almost to defy description... extraordinarily moving.
The Guardian
OPUS
Acrobats and a string quartet celebrate the music of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich in a work of stunning power, virtuosity and physical poetry.
Shostakovich’s quartets are by turns intimate, passionate, lyrical, ironic and deeply moving personal testimonies by one of the twentieth century’s greatest composers. In Opus, three of his quartets form the musical and dramatic spine of a red-hot fusion of extreme acrobatics, lyrical movement and group choreography.
Beginning with a solo performer suspended on a rope serenaded by musicians, Opus then moves powerfully through rapidly alternating scenes of dislocated stillness and violent explosions into extreme physicality to arrive at exquisitely detailed and nuanced geometries of acrobats flying, balancing and landing.
Opus explores the complex relationships between the individual and the group, between the march of history and what dictates the heart, and between the tragic and the comic. Opus is a melding of music and bodies at the highest level producing a groundbreaking work of intense power.
A Nuits de Fourvière production/ Département du Rhône, coproduced with Les Théâtres de la ville de Luxembourg, GREC Festival of Barcelona, Le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf, Dusseldorf Festival, Barbican Theatre, CACCV Espace Jean Legendre-Compiegne. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative, managed by Creative Australia, its arts funding advisory body, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals including Brisbane Festival, Perth International Arts Festival and Melbourne Festival.
by
TOURED TO
25 March 2025
Charleston, USA
Gaillard Centre
28 March 2025
Blacksburg, USA
Moss Arts Centre
6 April 2025
Davis, USA
Mondavi Centre
12 April 2025
Tucson, USA
Centennial Hall
3-4 May 2025
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
Teatro Guimerá
Performances 6
Audience 5,777
Opus is cut-glass, caviar circus. It’s black tie and ball gown circus.
The Telegraph
an exceptional show in the history of circus”…a masterpiece of circus art.
La Press
Opus is cut-glass, caviar circus. It’s black tie and ballgown circus.
The Telegraph
We are clearly in the presence of greatness.
Lyon Mag
Photo
Amos Adams
by
DIDO AND AENEAS
Dido and Aeneas is a love story for the ages. Bringing together exhilarating acrobatics and extraordinary music, this production is an opera for today.
Aeneas is a hero caught between his destiny and desire. Dido is the woman he must leave behind. For these star-crossed lovers, fate and romance are on a collision course, and when the smoke clears, Dido’s heart is found among the wreckage.
Purcell’s early opera gave the world one of the most poignant scores ever written and laid the foundation for every opera that came after.
Now, experience the power of Dido and Aeneas in staging from Circa Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz, which sets “a new benchmark for opera production in Australia” (Limelight). Expect jaw-dropping physical feats from Circa’s talented ensemble alongside stunning voices. Libby McDonnell’s glamorous costumes are chic creations of luxe materials and strong silhouettes, and Lifschitz has created a stark, slick set.
Opera Australia presents Opera Queensland’s production of Dido & Aeneas in association with Circa.
TOURED TO 13-29 March 2025
Sydney, Australia
Opera Australia
Sydney Opera House Performances
A new benchmark for opera production in Australia. Limelight
Sublime, erotic, dangerous: 80 minutes of baroque astonishment.
Sydney Morning Herald
Heartbreaking, tempestuous and surreal. Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane
A privilege to witness. InReview
Photo
Keith Saunders
CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
These zebras juggle and flip. These kangaroos skip and somersault. The elephants have rhythm and the dinosaur bones shake, clatter and roll to the music.
Carnival of the Animals whisks you away on a thrilling circus escapade inspired by Camille SaintSaëns delightful salute to feathers, fur and fins. Bringing this classical music suite to life for a whole new generation of circus, music and animal lovers, Carnival of the Animals captivates with whimsical tales of creatures of the land and sea with Circa’s world-famous acrobats who tumble, fly, leap and spin their way through the many wondrous worlds of the animal kingdom.
A production by Circa and QPAC’s Out of the Box Festival Carnival of the Animals by Circa Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa Ensemble
TOURED TO 15-22 April 2025
West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Xiqu Centre
25-26 April 2025
Seoul, Korea
Gangdong Arts Centre
Performances 11
Audience 5,662
2-4 May 2025
Hualien, Taiwan
Hualien Performing Arts Center
Circa’s internationally acclaimed acrobats deliver amazing physical feats with beauty, humour and a huge dose of charm. Their strength and agility is something to behold. The Edinburgh Reporter
by Darren Thomas
Photo
by Andrea
URLICHT PRIMAL LIGHT
Urlicht Primal Light brings together Franui, a company of Circa acrobats and young performers from Bad Goisern to create a new acrobat-musictheatre creation. Based on the companies shared love of Mahler’s songs, the musical spine is Franui’s Mahlerlieder album, which will be edited, augmented and adapted for this live musical performance. Accompanied by physical score developed by Yaron Lifschitz and Circa acrobats bringing the flavours and textures of Mahler, as interpreted by Franui, to life.
This is a concert of new perception with 20 artists as field researchers, stimulated through discovery and appreciation, navigating this exquisite world together before us, to utter delight.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz and FRANUI Musicbanda, with the Circa Ensemble and GmC Lighthouse.
A co-production with European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024, Circa, FRANUI Musicbanda, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi.
TOURED TO 7-8 May 2025
Luxembourg, Luxembourg Grand Theatre
Performances 4
Audience 3,707
4-5 July 2025
Spoleto, Italy
Teatro Romano
… with body sculptures, dizzying aerial acrobatics and alpine-adapted music by Gustav Mahler, the Circa Ensemble from Brisbane/Australia and the East Tyrolean Musicbanda Franui thrilled the audience… Salzburger Nachrichten
What the ensemble shows … is pure body control.
Salzburger Nachrichten
Photo
Veroni
by
EN MASSE
En Masse presents two visions of humanity at its extremes through circus settings of Schubert’s Winter’s Journey and selections from Swan Song, alongside Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
Glitches and grooves by Swedish composer Klara Lewis are interspersed with Schubert’s songs of loss and love as a solo tenor and acrobats veer between anarchic energy and exquisite stillness. Then Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, played live by pianists, is set against a life-and-death struggle between group and individual in this first circus staging of the work.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz with the Circa Ensemble
The Circa performers never seemed to be simply accomplishing physical feats, and as creation followed destruction, their expressiveness was as moving as it was breathtaking.
The Wall Street Journal
TOURED TO 30-31 May 2025
Trutnov, Czech Republic
UFFO Trutnov
14-15 June 2025
Paris, France
Philharmonie de Paris
Performances 5
Audience 6,570
14-15 June 2025
Paris, France
17 June 2025
Darmstadt, Germany
Staatstheater Darmstadt
Stratospheric skill...[Circa] has never looked better.
The Australian
...a grand masterwork that challenges the boundaries of dance, theatre, music and circus.
The Conversation
Photo
David Kelly
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Heartbroken Orpheus has been granted the chance to bring his dead wife Eurydice back from the underworld with one condition; he must not look at her – even for a moment – on their long journey home. But how can he resist the temptation to look into the eyes of his true love?
Set to some of the most stirring music ever written, this production mixes acrobatics, singing and video design to take the audience to hell and back.
Created by Yaron Lifschitz with Libby McDonnell and the Circa Ensemble Opera Queensland’s production of Orpheus and Eurydice in association with Circa.
TOURED TO 13-16 August 2025
Edinburgh, UK
Edinburgh International Festival and Opera Australia
Edinburgh Playhouse
2-5 December 2025
Melbourne, Australia
Opera Australia and Edinburgh International Festival Regent Theatre
Performances 7
Audience 16,162
...an astonishing, emotionally charged and radical production which defies operatic tradition.
Scenestr Magazine
Circa were astonishing, and their incredible athleticism genuinely has to be seen to be believed.
Limelight Magazine
by Jeff Busby
Photo
by Prudence
SHAUN THE SHEEP’S CIRCUS SHOW
Two worlds gleefully collide when the internationallyacclaimed Australian circus ensemble Circa and Academy Award®-winning studio Aardman, bring Shaun the Sheep to the stage.
Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show combines Circa’s physicality with the playful charm of the multiaward-winning TV series.
The whole family gets Aardman’s signature wit, daredevil acrobatics and vibrant circus skills. Shaun and the flock entertain through incredible feats and outright hilarity.
Produced by Shaun Comerford and Yaron Lifschitz with QPAC, Screen Queensland, Merrigong Theatre Company and Circa Contemporary Circus.
By special arrangement with Aardman Created by Yaron Lifschitz Based on the Television Series “Shaun the Sheep” devised by Richard Starzak
Based on an original idea by Nick Park
TOURED TO 11-31 December 2025
Manchester, UK
Aviva Studios
…Shaun the Sheep Circus Show is so entertaining, and so packed with physical marvels, that no child who sees it will ever forget it.
Sydney Morning Herald
…plenty of physical comedy, a slick blend of cute animation and live performance, and of course the stylish acrobatics for which Circa is rightly in demand worldwide.
Sydney Morning Herald
Photo
Upton
Image by Vincent Rommelaere
Engagement
Circa is more than a touring company. We believe circus makes a difference. In 2025, we continued to engage with communities through our outreach, schools and workshop programmes.
With Circa Cairns, our focus shifted toward deeper community engagement and development, strengthening connections with remote Indigenous communities beyond the delivery of workshops and new work.
We also believe that circus and the arts should be accessible to everyone. Circability, designed by and for those who identify as living with disability, continues to provide meaningful social and community engagement for its participants, affirming the lasting impact the programme has on the lives of those who take part.
Circa Cairns
In the landscape of Far North Queensland, we have learned that the pilot was never really the point. The point was always what grew from it.
2025 was the year of consolidation.
The Wet stepped into formal theatres at scale: from our home in Cairns, to Mackay, across to the stages of Victoria - Nunawading, Melbourne, Sale, Latrobe - gathering 1,588 people across seven performances. The Dry returned to the open air, this time at Bondi, drawing 455 people to the edge of the ocean and into its stillness.
Deep work happened in our workshops. From Lockhart River to Woorabinda, Bamaga to Cherbourg, Cooktown to Bloomfield- a total of 17 communities and more than 105 sessions where 1,204 people participated in our practice.
We acknowledge that our work exists in Gimuy on the lands of the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people. Their generosity in allowing us to create on Country remains the foundation beneath everything we build.
Our thanks to the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation for its ongoing support of Circa Cairns.
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Photo
Ngaarda Media.
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THE WET
You don’t know Far North Queensland if you haven’t experienced THE WET.
From the moment the green ant’s journey to higher ground till the final breaking of the storm, THE WET connects you to place and immerses you in the hot damp.
Circa Cairns is a new First Nations led circus ensemble creating exciting circus shows from the heart of Cairns. THE WET has been created on country across Far North Queensland in response to the landscape and endless yarns with community.
Drawing on these ancient stories of the wet tropics, this dynamic acrobatic show thrills while connecting everyone to country.
Conceived by Harley Mann (Wakka Wakka) and embodied by the Circa Cairns ensemble, THE WET is powerfully enduring circus, dripping with culture.
Created by Harley Mann and the Circa Cairns Ensemble
A beautifully paced story ebbing and flowing between moments of frenetic action and serene calm.
Arts Hub
TOURED TO 1 February 2025
Cairns, Australia
Cairns Performing Arts Centre
21 February 2025
Mackay, Australia
Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre
15 March 2025
Nunawading, Australia
The Round
Performances 7
Audience 1,588
21-22 March 2025
Melbourne, Australia
Monash University Performing Arts Centre
27 March 2025
Sale, Australia
The Wedge Performing Arts Centre
29 March 2025
Latrobe, Australia
Gippsland Performing Arts Centre
Photo
Josaphine Seale
THE DRY
Far North Queensland’s dry season brings an anticipation into the Country that pulsates through its people.
Circa Cairns returns to place with THE DRY, the second work in a series of extraordinary encounters between the body and Country.
Inspired by this sun soaked landscape, THE DRY is a raw cry of joy and mischief from the vibrant people who call this parched land home.
Blending elite skill, Cultural knowledge and a touch of sass, the Circa Cairns ensemble draws upon elements of the dry season to breathe life back into circus.
Created by Harley Mann and the Circa Cairns Ensemble
TOURED TO 8-9 March 2025
Bondi, Australia
Bondi Pavillion
Performances 2
Audience 455
Image by Josaphine Seale
CIRCABILITY
Circability is Circa’s social circus programme, providing inclusive workshops for people of all ages and abilities. Launched in 2022 to promote social inclusion through circus, Circability offers programmes designed around physical fitness, social connection and personal growth.
The philosophy is straightforward: everyone should have access to circus, regardless of background or ability. By creating inclusive and supportive
environments, we help participants develop new skills, build confidence and form connections.
This year, a Circability participant performed in a Real and Diverse Theatre Company production through the programme’s partnership with Parastart. A proud milestone, and a reminder of what opens up when circus is genuinely for everyone.
CIRCA ACADEMY
In 2025, Circa Academy continued to grow. Under the leadership of incoming Head of Academy Vanessa McGregor, the Academy delivered 17 term-based programmes, spanning early childhood play through to pre-professional development. Our reach extended beyond the studio through school partnerships and international repertoire workshops, supporting the growth of emerging artists across Australia and around the world.
Workshops and Classes 650
Attendances 6,091
Circase Audience 212
Circus Obscura Audience 133
Photo by David Kelly.
Photo by Billie Wilson-Coffey
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS
In 2025, the work went deep into community. Circa Cairns delivered more than 105 workshops Across 17 communities — from Lockhart River to Woorabinda, Bamaga to Cherbourg — placing circus in the hands of 1,204 people. This is the work that doesn’t take a stage. It takes time, trust, and the willingness to show up.
$10.1M TURNOVER (GROSS INCOME)
$5.7M INCOME FROM PERFORMANCES
$5.0M INVESTMENT IN WAGES (FOR ARTISTS AND ARTS WORKERS)
19% CORE OPERATIONAL FUNDING (% OF TURNOVER)
$5M INCOME FROM INTERNATIONAL SOURCES (EXPORT INCOME)
37% INCREASE IN EXPORT INCOME (FROM 2024 TO 2025)
Thanks to
The support of our partners and donors in 2025 turned possibility into reality, from a young person in Far North Queensland experiencing circus for the first time to nine artists making their Circa debut on stages around the world.
With continued support from the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation, Circa Cairns expanded workshop programmes across Far North Queensland, building the pathways and diversity that will shape our stages for years to come. VAE Group’s season sponsorship of both Wolfgang in the Stars and Wolf gave us more time in the rehearsal room, resulting in richer, more ambitious work. Academy scholarships opened doors for students who otherwise couldn’t afford training, ensuring talent and passion determine who pursues this art form. And support from the Chair’s Circle and our annual giving programme funded artist wages that made nine Circa debuts possible, building the touring capacity essential for artist longevity.
From remote Queensland to stages in Berlin, Santiago and beyond, your support ensured that work created with quality, audacity and humanity reached more people in more places.
Thank you.
Fiona Allan, Stephen Armstrong, Pema Bastin, Louise Bezzina, Georgie Black, Andrew Bobeldyk, Ebony Bott, Geordie Brookman, Phil Brown, Miranda Brown, Ross Buchanan, Hon Tony Burke, Patti Burnheim, Sharyn Byrnes, Jesse Cain, Ben Carter, Shaun Clough, Cameron Costello, Antonin Coutouly, Charlie Cush, Jo Davies, Danielle Devery, Dominique Delorme, Andrew Donovan, Serge Dorny, Stewart Douglas, Paul Dyer AO, Stewart Ebbott, Hon Leeanne Enoch MP, Richard Evans AM, Gina Fairfax AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Guislaine Foiret, Bella Ford, Stephen Foster, Carl Fourmile, Hendrik Frobel, Simon Frost, Brigitte Fürle, Eddy Garcia, Andrew Glick, Tom Gutteridge, Paul Grabowsky, Bernie Haldane, Tania Hall, Ngaio Harding-Hill, Neal Harvey, Rachel Healy, Anne-Marie Heath, Kirsten Herring, Paul Henry, Simon Hinton, Wolfgang Hoffman, Heidi Irvine, Hayley Johnson, Ellen Kavanagh, Tim Knapp, John Kotzas AM, Eric Lassen, Hon John-Paul Langbroek MP, David Lieberman, Fergus Linehan, Roy Luxford, Annette Madden, Jason Marriner, Gilles Mattana, Justin McGowan, Craig McMaster, Shay Minster, Allen Moon, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Julia Murphy, Foad Naddafi, Alice Nash, Patrick Nolan, Michelle Pearce, Jono Perry, Barbara Poliness, Anke Politz, Dare Power, Harry Prouse, Marcus Pugh, Bonnie Royal, Evelyn Richardson, Guy Ross, Tammy Ryan, Michelle Savage, Michael Stevens, Julie Tanner, Eliza Tee, Ruth Thomas, Hannah Torrence, Damien Walker, Penny Watts, Ric Watts
Circa thanks and acknowledges the following people and organisations for their support:
Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeanette Young PSM, Governor of Queensland
Circa acknowledges the assistance of the Australian Government through Creative Australia its arts funding and advisory body, and the assistance of the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
supporters our
CHAIR’S CIRCLE
Ann Sherry AO and Michael Hogan, Michael Lynch AO CBE and Susie Dobson, Danny and Kathleen Gilbert, Ross and Ainsley May, Professor Sarah Kelly OAM
VISIONARY ($25,000+)
Philip Bacon AO
DIRECTORS
($10,000 - $24,999)
Carrillo Gantner AC
Prof Sarah Kelly OAM
Michael Lynch AO CBE and Susie Dobson
Ross and Ainsley May
Ann Sherry AO and Michael Hogan
Anonymous
ARTISTS
($2,500 - $9,999)
David and Anita Carter
Kerry Comerford
Danny and Kathleen Gilbert
The Geoff Ross Endowment
Janet Whiting AM and Phillip Lukies
Image by David Kelly
CREATORS
($1,000 - $2,499)
MJ Bellotti
Alanna Herbst
Lyndall and Mick McCormack
Sam Meers AO and Rob Thomas AO
Rupert and Annabel Myer
Lyn Parsons
Anthony Rose
Anonymous (2)
FRIENDS OF CIRCA
($100 - $999)
Fiona Allan
Hamish Balnaves
Collette Brennan
Warwick Cavanagh
Margot Coleman
Shaun Comerford
Ingrid Costello
Marty Evans
Jenny and Matthew Fisher
Martha Fleishman
Renee Fletcher
Sheryl Gawn
Niall and Marion Gibbons
Susie and Peter Godber
Eddy Garcia-Grant
Louise Herron
Kay/Swaney Family
Fiona Love
Gordon Mor
Susan O’Connor
Jan O’Reilly, Genevieve Overell AM
Stayros Psillakis
Philippa Shann
Brett Sheehy AO and Steven Nicholls
Vera Smiljanic
Mirjam Stevens
Brad Thiele
Deborah Thomas
Arete Executive
Alice Watts
Peter Willadsen
Anonymous
team our
PATRON
Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM, Governor of Queensland
BOARD
Ann Sherry AO - Chair
Ric Roach - Treasurer (Until May)
Anthony Rose - Treasurer (From May)
Mary-Jane Bellotti
Chris Brady
Kerry Comerford (Until May)
Courtney Gibson
Alanna Herbst (Until May)
Gene Moyle
Lydia Miller (From May)
Marty Evans - Secretary
ENSEMBLE
Rowan Allinson (Until November)
Shea Baker (From July)
Jon Bonaventura
Holly-Rose Boyer
Arabella Coghlan (February - May)
Asha Colless
Maya Davies
Helga Ehrenbusch
Malte Gerhardt
Lisa Goldsworthy
Scott Grove
Chelsea Hall
Jordan Hart
Asom Hayman-Jones (Until May)
Jessica Connell
Eduardo Grillo
Bridie Hooper
Kayley Hennessy
Jordan Hensley-Twartz (From August)
Barney Herrmann (From November)
Oliver Layher (June - October)
Sam Letch
Gerramy Marsden
Laya Mauelshagen (From March)
Anisa Monsour
Rosalani Mordaunt
Oscar Morris
Daniel O'Brien
Luke Pearce
Georgia Pozorski (From December)
Kimberley Rossi
Clara Scudder-Davis
GUEST ENSEMBLE
Griffin Hooper
Lucy Hunterland
Lachlan McAulay
Diana Sallas
Sophie Seccombe
Tristan St John
Shani Stephens (Until June)
Zach Stephens
Anais Stewart-Long (From May)
Joshua Strachan
Adam Strom
Lachlan Sukroo
Darby Sullivan
Rose Symons
Luke Thomas (Until April)
Harley Timmermans (From July)
Georgia Webb (Until May)
Christina Zauner
Jesse Scott
Jacob Silvestro
Billie Wilson-Coffey
CIRCA CAIRNS ENSEMBLE PERFORMERS
David Biondi-Odo
Johnathon Brown
Margaret Church-Kopp
Chandler Connell
Violetta Van Geyser
Nayila Gray
Manelaya Kaydos-Nitis
Brianna Kemmerling
Jacob Kenner
Dale Woodbridge
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STAFF
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND CEO
Yaron Lifschitz
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Marty Evans
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR/ TOUR DIRECTOR
Benjamin Knapton
RESIDENT DIRECTOR
Eve Shepherdson-Beck
Nathan Boyle (From July)
Piri Goodman (April - May)
Rowan Heydon-White (July-August)
HEAD OF DESIGN AND ENGAGEMENT
Libby McDonnell
WARDROBE COORDINATOR
Anna Handford
PRODUCER
Charmaine Childs
Jake Jobes
Lou Lachi (From August)
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Jodie Roche-Jones
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Shaun Comerford
HEAD OF PRODUCTION
Mark Middleton
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Bryce Holmes
Laura Holmes
Luke Laidler
Peter Rhoades (From August)
PRODUCTION TECHNICIAN
Joshua Braithwaite
Scott Grayland
Nathan Hardy
Alon Jones
Shania Manning
Jason Organ
Felicity Organ-Moore
Maddison Penglis
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Leo Fitzgerald
LIGHTING PROGRAMMER
Ethan Hamill
HEAD MECHANIST
Richard Aishford
HEAD OF FINANCE
Renee Fletcher
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Danielle Kellie
SENIOR FINANCE OFFICER
Israt Jahan Tinni
FINANCE ASSISTANT
Ele Edminston (From December)
OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION MANAGER
Elanor Nunn
ADMINISTRATION COORDINATOR
Tallulah Bennetton
Leyla Stanbridge (Until November 2025)
Emma Erdis (From May 2025)
Daniel Kirkby (March - May)
MARKETING MANAGER
Claire Holland
MARKETING COORDINATOR
Cassia Duncan (From May)
GENERAL MANAGER
DUCK POND MELBOURNE
Guy Ross
Photo
Billie Wilson-Coffey
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Harley Mann (Until July)
ARTISTIC PRODUCER
Josh Bond (March - September)
HEAD OF CIRCA ACADEMY
Alice Muntz (Until August)
Sophia Blyth
Daiana Catano
David Carberry
Ellen Cox
Miku Ferguson
Mia Hughes
CIRCA CAIRNS STAFF
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Julie Rigault (Until May)
HEAD OF ENGAGEMENT
Ally Humphris
ASSOCIATE DESIGNER
Sarah Winter
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Alexander Berlage
Jason Organ
Veronique Benett
Paul Jackson
DJ AND COMPOSER
Ori Lichtik
DRAMATURG
Rani Luther
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANAGER (MATERNITY LEAVE COVER)
