Casus Circus - Finding The Silence
- 5 Apr 2016
What
Brisbane-based company Casus Circus was supported through a Fresh Ground residency to undertake the final creative development for their show Finding The Silence, which culminated in a performance season at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts (JWCoCA).
Finding the Silence is the second full-scale work in Casus Circus’ repertoire with their first being Knee Deep.
The cast comprised Emma Serjeant, Lachlan McAulay, Jesse Scott, and newcomer Vincent Van Berkel who replaced Casus co-founder Natano Fa’anana in the performances due to injury.
Following the residency, Casus toured Finding The Silence to Europe and New Zealand.
When
January and February 2014 – creative development
August 2014 – performance season
Where
Development: Drill Hall in Great Yarmouth, UK, an old Liverpool church, UK and a Parisian theatre.
Final creative development and a performance season at the JWCoCA, Fortitude Valley.
Key stats (Not including tours)
- 7 activities
- 1048 attendees
- 14 participants
Arts Queensland contribution
- $9,000 – Fresh Ground investment
- $13,450 in-kind JWCoCA Fresh Ground support
Outcomes
- The creation and premier of a full length contemporary circus show Finding The Silence presented at the JWCoCA in August 2014.
- Finding The Silence toured to Croatia in November 2014, the Perplex Festival and Kortrijk Festival Belgium in June 2015, the Hawkes Bay Festival and the Tauranga Arts Festival and Nelson Arts Festival New Zealand in October 2015.
- Casus employed four new acrobats as Knee Deep was still touring strongly for the months in between.
- The Fresh Ground opportunity allowed the company to explore new ways to make work – especially in the early creative development stages.
- The development of Finding The Silence gave the company more exposure on the national and international market.
Learnings and reflections
The members of Casus reflected on the opportunity that the Fresh Ground residency gave them to explore new creative concepts to inspire their work:
The members of Casus all find silence in different ways; some of us find it sitting by a river or on a tropical beach with a book and cocktail in hand. Others find it after the last email for the day has been sent, but we can all find a type of silence when we’re upside down or being flung at each other!
By testing their individual vulnerabilities, emotions and real fears, Casus truly go on the search to find the absence of sound.
Encounters, both alone and together, form the path of this restless exploration of unique and rigorously refined physicality.
The residency also gave Casus the opportunity to rework some of the scenes to incorporate their signature personalities in the work for the tour of Belgium. They were able to improve the marketing and connection with the audience. They also worked on making the themes and title of the work more meaningful to audiences.
The residency at JWCoCA provided Casus with an opportunity to improve the lighting design which made a huge difference to the overall show.
Contact for further information
Email: kate@clusterarts.com
Website: www.casus.com.au
Links
Finding the Silence excerpts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1li7t1c1Rk
A pdf version of the Casus case study (PDF) (997.91 KB) is also available.
Case study page image: Casus on stage at the JWCoCA. Photo: Sean Young