By BARBARA HOLLANDS
The quirky turrets of the Aussie: Australian Circus Spectacular have popped up on a Bunkers Hill field, signalling the arrival of four weeks of escapist entertainment.
Comprising a 20m-high main performance tent seating 1200 and a smaller foyer tent, the circus and all its construction, sound and stage paraphernalia was shipped from Australia in November last year and arrived in Cape Town three months later – just in time for the start of the circus’s South African tour.
The 25-act extravaganza and its 90-strong cast and crew has already performed in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pretoria, Sandton, Carnival City and Bloemfontein and will remain in the country until December before continuing its world tour.
Made up of performers from every continent, with the exception of Antarctica, the circus is like “a cocktail of united nations”, said executive producer Sebastian Cassie, who met the Saturday Dispatch at the big top on the Old Selbornian Club grounds yesterday.
The show markets itself as an “all-human cirque production”, a decision that is purely audience driven.
“We have our ear to the ground and so if people scream out for extreme acts, that is what we give them. They are actually our executive producers,” said Cassie, who was a lawyer before joining Weber Bros Entertainment, which administers the Aussie Circus.
He said the programme appealed to audiences aged two to 99 and was a spectacular blend of acrobatics, slapstick comedy, mysterious illusion and extreme stunts including FMX jumps, the Globe of Death in which four motorcyclists perform perilous feats, and a human cannonball.
“Live performance keeps getting bigger, better and more spectacular and this makes the point that circuses without animals can be an incredible success,” he said.
Unlike other travelling circuses, the cast and crew do not live in caravans on site but stay at hotels and B&Bs.
Only four people know where the circus will pitch its tents when it leaves South Africa, said Cassie.
“The cast don’t know where the next leg will be. It gives them excitement and anticipation.”
Due to the fact they could be away from home for three years, performers can travel with their families, said Cassie, who was born in Cape Town, but emigrated to Australia with his mother and siblings when he was two.
“We have a teacher and a semi-link trailer gets converted into a classroom” for the kids, he said.
For freestyle motocross rider Jacques Human, performing with the circus has been “great fun”.
“The Aussies are very friendly and I have met people from all over the world. We do death-defying stunts, but they are also safe because they are calculated risks.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Spectacular human circus to wow city
The quirky turrets of the Aussie: Australian Circus Spectacular have popped up on a Bunkers Hill field, signalling the arrival of four weeks of escapist entertainment.
Comprising a 20m-high main performance tent seating 1200 and a smaller foyer tent, the circus and all its construction, sound and stage paraphernalia was shipped from Australia in November last year and arrived in Cape Town three months later – just in time for the start of the circus’s South African tour.
The 25-act extravaganza and its 90-strong cast and crew has already performed in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pretoria, Sandton, Carnival City and Bloemfontein and will remain in the country until December before continuing its world tour.
Made up of performers from every continent, with the exception of Antarctica, the circus is like “a cocktail of united nations”, said executive producer Sebastian Cassie, who met the Saturday Dispatch at the big top on the Old Selbornian Club grounds yesterday.
The show markets itself as an “all-human cirque production”, a decision that is purely audience driven.
“We have our ear to the ground and so if people scream out for extreme acts, that is what we give them. They are actually our executive producers,” said Cassie, who was a lawyer before joining Weber Bros Entertainment, which administers the Aussie Circus.
He said the programme appealed to audiences aged two to 99 and was a spectacular blend of acrobatics, slapstick comedy, mysterious illusion and extreme stunts including FMX jumps, the Globe of Death in which four motorcyclists perform perilous feats, and a human cannonball.
“Live performance keeps getting bigger, better and more spectacular and this makes the point that circuses without animals can be an incredible success,” he said.
Unlike other travelling circuses, the cast and crew do not live in caravans on site but stay at hotels and B&Bs.
Only four people know where the circus will pitch its tents when it leaves South Africa, said Cassie.
“The cast don’t know where the next leg will be. It gives them excitement and anticipation.”
Due to the fact they could be away from home for three years, performers can travel with their families, said Cassie, who was born in Cape Town, but emigrated to Australia with his mother and siblings when he was two.
“We have a teacher and a semi-link trailer gets converted into a classroom” for the kids, he said.
For freestyle motocross rider Jacques Human, performing with the circus has been “great fun”.
“The Aussies are very friendly and I have met people from all over the world. We do death-defying stunts, but they are also safe because they are calculated risks.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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