Tumble Circus - Interview
We talk to Irish company, Tumble Circus about their current show "This is what we do for a living" and why they love touring to Australia...
How and when did Tumble Circus first start working together?
We met on Grafton Street in Dublin in 1995 where I taught Tina how to pass-juggle. She was convinced that it was impossible to pass a juggling club from right hand-to-hand pass on a double spin on a two-count pattern. In a sense we have been working since the day we met. Tumble Circus officially became a company around 1998.
What drives the company?
Lifestyle was what drove us in the early years; the idea of travelling and working and living under the radar. But we soon developed a love of the form, the skills and the training. Over the years our experiences have reshaped our motivations. Seeing exceptional companies gave us a thirst to reach higher physical goals but also to make work which went beyond the generic. It seems to us that we are privileged to be able to make a living from this beautiful form called circus, and we in turn should try to nourish the scene by making the best work we can.
What was your motivation for making your current show "This is what we do for a living"?
After working mainly on outdoor shows, we wanted to make an indoor theatre show. We had already been developing new work with larger groups of performers, and with this work I was interested in pushing our artistic goals. I began to recognise links between the surreal imagery of circus and the absurdist movement and began writing comedy, both physical and spoken word, around this style. This is what we do for a living was an attempt to create a comical, emotional narrative, where the narrative was solid enough to hang a story on but never too detailed to destroy the beauty and comedy of the circus. This is what we do for a living is also a show intended to showcase the best of our physical work.
What first brought you to Australia and what was your first experience of Australian circus?
Matt Yeats from Lunar Circus told me that we could make a fortune touring with him in Western Australia. He was totally wrong but we had a great time touring with the original Bush Circus and definitely had some of the dodgiest adventures carnies could hope to have. Working with Lunar Circus in the early days was like we were reinventing circus, there was no other new circus company touring in Western Australia, and the audience really didn't know what to make of us. The sense of making it up as we went along, breaking the law, stealing stuff, and sticking it altogether with gaffer tape was great fun. We made life long friends and lived the dream of the circus, all under the big blue sky of Western Australia.
What has made you come back to Australia so many times?
The weather, the circus community, our friends and the legacy we have invested with the WAY kids who are beginning their carny adventures.
What advice would you give small companies thinking of touring Australia?
Attend the circus festival.
And what advice would you give about touring Europe?
Buy a GPS. Go to Europe and lose a lot of money, but keep going back.
What can you tell us about circus in Ireland in the current financial crisis? Has it been affected? How is it responding?
Traditional circus in Ireland has been around forever and some companies have been touring nonstop for over 130 years. New circus however is an emerging art form, there are only a handful of small companies making and touring work in Ireland and fewer touring internationally.
Ireland is suffering a major financial crisis and with that there has been major cuts in all government departments. The Arts Council in Ireland received a 20% cut which was actually a small cut compared to what other departments suffered. The thinking being that Ireland needs to re-brand itself as a creative country in order to attract investment, also the Arts is already such a small budget to cut. Circus is the second least funded art form in the Irish Arts Council budget. The budget for circus didn't get cut because it was so small. At this time in Ireland there is a vibrant grass-roots circus movement, there seems to be a growing community of weirdos taking a keen interest in the form.
When will you be back in Australia?
We try to get here for a few months every year. 2013 will be Tassie Circus Fest time, and I think I would like to be there.
What's next for Tumble Circus?
We are working on a new street theatre show called Carny Noir. It represents a challenging new direction for the company and a development of our artistic vision. Having toured for 4 years in Europe and having witnessed the possibilities of street theatre, we wanted to make a show using the passion and honesty of the shows that have inspired us. The show draws on the political energy and dark comedy of the city we come from (Belfast) and is a reaction to the development of contemporary European culture. But rather than being reflective, we are trying to capture the political reactionary zeitgeist of the moment and reflect it back on the audience. A parody of our search for a new way to live and organise our lives and our society.
