Circenses

Circenses PIC CREDIT Benny Degrove

CIRCUS: BELGIUM

“Ronaldo strips away all circus’s spangles and cheesy smiles to reveal a tremulous ego and a delicately beating heart.” The Independent (UK)

The old-world romance of the circus is brought back to life for the New Zealand International Arts Festival by three generations of Belgium’s extraordinary Ronaldo family.

All the nostalgia of sawdust and sequins, with a contemporary theatrical twist, is there in Circenses, staged in the intimate setting of their own Big Top on Wellington’s Waterfront.

One of Europe’s most exciting contemporary circus companies, Circus Ronaldo presents a show of two very different halves: for act one, half the audience is treated to a vintage evening of traditional circus skills. The other half sits backstage, where they are privy to quite a different world.

Each half of the audience cannot see the other side of the stage, although they can hear intriguing, and often contradictory, sounds. At interval they change places – and have their curiosity satisfied. In the great circus tradition of curiosity and illusion, things in Circenses are not as they first appear.

As the troupe says: “Those who sat around the ring now discover the darker side of the circus... In short, everything that is not on the poster.’’

The Ronaldo family trace their circus lineage back to the early 1900s, when one of their descendants ran away from home at 15 to join the circus. He eventually married into a theatrical family – and Ronaldo’s unique mix of circus and theatre was born.

Circenses is at Waitangi Park from 29 February to 18 March for the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival, Wellington, 24 February – 18 March. Tickets $38 – $78 available from Ticketek.

AGE RECOMMENDATION: 10+

ENDS

With support of the Flemish Government

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