The circus is coming to town, but don’t send in the clowns

Based in Brisbane, Circa Contemporary Circus was established in 2004 and is one of the world’s leading performance companies, with multi-skilled circus artists performing regularly at leading festivals and venues globally. It blurs the lines between movement, dance, theatre and circus its ringmaster is the visionary Yaron Lifschitz, Artistic Director and CEO.

Born in Cape Town, Yaron’s father was headmaster of a Jewish Day School. “My grandparents were of Russian-Polish-Lithuanian origin and the dominant person in our family’s life was my maternal grandfather, who studied at Yeshiva from a very young age,” he tells me. In 1980, the family resettled in Sydney, where Yaron’s father founded a high school. “The school was literally built around us, so we got to make stuff up, which was terrific. A couple of years from finishing high school, four of us were working on a play in English class and with only three roles available, I offered to stand out and be director. At the time, I didn’t even know what that meant.”

Yaron went on to direct plays throughout university, while studying English, history and maths. Intern stints at major theatre companies followed, leading to a graduate directing scheme and by 1999, the call came and Yaron moved to Brisbane for Circa. Always aware and curious of his surroundings, he noticed a significantly smaller Jewish presence than in Sydney and I asked how he identifies as a Jew today living and working in Brisbane, his name a huge giveaway to his roots. “There’s a fabulous quote from a favourite author of mine, Edmond Jabès, who describes the Jews as ‘a god-haunted people’ and I guess it’s how I see myself. I feel like I belong, but I’m definitely not observant. For me, it’s always a mixture of a wider social consciousness along with a Jewish consciousness.”

The current tour is underway, involving many spinning plates for Yaron, who is father to a  21-year-old, a two-year-old and the latest addition, a four-week-old. Add in three-year-old Goldberg the golden retriever (named after a Jewish pro wrestler) and that’s a lot of family life to juggle right there whilst respecting a work/life balance. “I spend about half the year on the road, but don’t tend to do the bulk of touring any more. I leave that to my associate directors, but we have contact daily. I’ll definitely be in London, though, where I’ll hopefully get a little bit of downtime, see some friends. When running a company, major downtime doesn’t exist, as I’m active in two or three different times zones. But I’m fortunate that I get to work with such a passionate bunch of people – it makes it pretty easy to wake up, go to sleep and get interrupted in between those two things. ”

With such an intense schedule, does it feel like a ‘work family’? “I actually don’t like the idea of a ‘family’ because that’s something you can’t leave. But you can leave Circa. I don’t want to create an environment where people have to ‘drink the Kool-Aid to get on board’ – I just want good, committed people to show up and do a great job.”

Many are original cast members from the previous success, Humans (2017), centred around performing acrobatics whilst retaining ‘humanness’. By going back to the core, adding more choreography, music and lighting, Humans 2.0 reveals more humour and more beauty, pushing bodies to the extreme.

With such intense physical work, surely the cast age out? “When I started at Circa, people left every year or two, but some of the cast have been on board for 10-12 years. The group is mid 20s to early 30s but they don’t necessarily age out – the smart ones can adjust and modify what they do to continue on.”

Yaron’s enthusiasm for Humans 2.0 is clear. “I find plays boring but I like sitting in a room full of people all holding their breath. I want audiences to be thrilled. Moved. Connected. At the end of a show there’s often a palpable gasp or roar.”

However, with human performance often comes human error, so does that affect the show’s flow? “Perfection is the least interesting thing we can achieve. Some of our worst-technically performed shows have been our strongest. The show is like a date with the audience – some go well, some go badly, but it’ll be enjoyable no matter what.”

With lots more in the pipeline for Circa, is there a concern that at some point, audiences will have ‘seen it all’? “We just had a training block and discovered that we had to hold things back because it’s the start of something new that we want to save for something down the track. The team are always discovering new techniques and skills.”

With all of this exceptional talent surrounding him, you’d think Yaron had picked up a trick or two. “I don’t have any great physical abilities. My party trick is being distinctly ordinary. It’s not a choice. It’s just me.”

Humans 2.0 promises to be anything but ordinary.

Humans 2.0 is at the Southbank Centre 12-16 April. www.southbankcentre.co.uk