Photo by Brendon & Keryn
The New Zealand International Arts Festival that has been on in Wellington finished yesterday. We only managed to get to one show in the end but it was a good one. Circenses by Circus Ronaldo was enormously fun combining a traditional circus show with the added drama of peak behind the scenes. For the first half we were in the audience watching the circus unfold, a love story eventually taking over from the feats of skill and strength on show. For the second half we switched with the other half of the audience and found seats behind the scenes and got to watch the same circus but this time we were privy to the backstage oranisation, dramas and snap decisions when things went wrong. Small mysteries from the first half show were solved as we saw cannons explode by mistake, tricks come undone through misadventure and the tensions between show members simmer and boil over. Things also changed so it wasn’t all the same second time around and the climax was surprising and entertaining.
Photo by Brendon & Keryn
Photo by Brendon & Keryn
There were a few well know people in the crowd, Sir Ian McKellen was front row for the second half and Kiran Shah, also in the front, was involved in a little bit of audience interaction with the knife throwing, wildly flirting, axe wielding strong woman. Keeping up with everything that was going on was part of the fun, everyone performing even when they looked like they weren’t doing much with little glances and brief interactions all part of the story.
Circus Ronaldo is a family run group with a history going back generations and there were three generations of Ronaldo in the show. If you get a chance to see these fantastic performers and their wonderful shows don’t think twice, just go and enjoy.
