Circa (Australia)

QPAC AND CIRCA PRESENT 

DUCK POND SYNOPSIS 

Created by Yaron Lifschitz with the Circa Ensemble 

Prologue 

Cupid appears in a flash 

ACT 1

The palace, a dream

It is the night before the Prince’s birthday. Various friends, prospective partners and assorted revellers engage in acrobatically-infused merriments. A pillow mishap abruptly ends the party. In a brief encounter the Prince meets the Ugly Duckling and, with the help of Cupid, they fall in love. Romantic duets follow.

Reality soon intrudes. It could never be that a humble duck and a magnificent prince could be together. The Duck Army comes to console the Ugly Duckling. She leaves somewhat cheerier.

The Black Swan appears. Soon it’s time for the Ball where the Black Swan and Prince are feted, but something is amiss. 

ACT 2

The lake

A lake with swans. We marvel above and below the water. In despair, the Ugly Duckling decides to throw herself into the swans. Unexpectedly she flies! She is, in fact, a swan.

The Black Swan appears. She and the White Swan fall eternally in love. Duets of love follow. The Prince, confused and devastated, implodes as the two enamoured swans head into the sunset.

ACT 3

The theatre

We catch a glimpse of what swans are like in nature. It’s almost time to go home but as we pack up the theatre, true identities are revealed and real magic – the kind that does not depend on swans, tutus or spells – is rekindled.

Yaron Lifschitz

Yaron Lifschitz is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, and National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), where he was the youngest director ever accepted into its prestigious graduate director’s course. Since graduating, Yaron has directed over 60 productions including large-scale events, opera, theatre, physical theatre, and circus.

His work has been seen in more than 40 countries and across six continents by over 1.5 million people and has won numerous awards including six Helpmann awards and the Australia Council Theatre Award. His productions have been presented at major festivals and venues around the world including Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Barbican, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamaleon and all the major Australian festivals. His film work was selected for the Berlin and Melbourne Film Festivals. He was founding Artistic Director of the Australian Museum’s Theatre Unit, Head Tutor in Directing at Australian Theatre for Young People and has been a regular guest tutor in directing at NIDA.

He is currently Artistic Director and CEO of Circa, and was Creative Director of Festival 2018: the arts and cultural program of the 21st Commonwealth Games.

Circa Contemporary Circus is one of the world’s leading performance companies. Since 2004, from its base in Brisbane, Australia, Circa has toured the world – performing in more than 40 countries to over 1.5 million people. Circa’s works have been greeted with standing ovations, rave reviews and sold-out houses across six continents.  

Circa is at the forefront of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus – pioneering how extreme physicality can create powerful and moving performances. It continues to push the boundaries of the art form, blurring the lines between movement, dance, theatre and circus. Compelled by the question ‘what is possible in circus?’ Circa is leading the way with a diverse range of thrilling creations that ‘redraw the limits to which circus can aspire.’ (The Age).

Under the direction of circus visionary Yaron Lifschitz, Circa features an ensemble of exceptional, multi-skilled circus artists who have been a regular fixture at leading festivals and venues in New York, London, Berlin and Montreal with seasons at Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Barbican Centre, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamäleon Theatre as well as major Australian Festivals.

Circa is committed to fostering the next generation of circus artists and runs public circus classes from its studio in Brisbane. Circa also runs regular circus programs with communities throughout Queensland and around Australia. 

As a champion of live performance, Circa was the Creative Lead for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games arts and cultural program.

Asha Colless

Growing up in Wollongong, Asha was introduced to circus at the age of six, taking classes at Circus Monoxide. Being in the air and flipping herself around quickly became her favourite thing to do, and this is where her love of performing came alive. At nineteen she decided to take her training further and study at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA), specialising in hula hoops and silks. 

Asha also loves swimming at the beach, being in nature and a good book.

Maya Davies 

For as long as she can remember, Maya has always said “when I grow up, I want to join the circus”, and that’s exactly what she did. She grew up between Australia and the United States, but Maya’s circus training began at Cirkidz, in Adelaide at the age of seven. She has always excelled in both the arts and athletics, and was thrilled when she discovered that circus could be the perfect hybrid of both. This eventually led her to the National Institute of Circus Arts where she specialised in Partner Acrobatics and Chinese Pole, graduating with a Bachelors of Circus Arts. She is devoted to continue using circus as an art discipline; to tell stories, create striking performances, and explore physicality through an imaginative lens.

Malte Gerhardt 

Malte discovered his passion for the explosive yet precise art of partner acrobatics at the age of nine with his local youth circus in southwest Germany. His journey led him to the State Ballet School and School of Acrobatics in Berlin, followed by completing his vocational training at CircArtive School in 2019. He then specialised in partner acrobatics on a one-metre ball during four arts at Codarts, University for the Arts in Rotterdam, earning a BNG nomination for his graduation act BLANK in 2023. 

Since then, Malte has co-created the family show SuperSociety with Stefan Bauer and performed with Circa at prestigious festivals and venues worldwide, including TOHU, Edinburgh Festival, Montréal Complètement Cirque, Circusstad Festival, and Carré.

Oscar Morris

Hailing from Brisbane, Oscar’s journey into the world of circus began at eight years old when he joined youth classes at Flipside Circus. What started as a childhood pastime quickly transformed into a passion, and by the time he had graduated from Flipside’s performance troupe, he was working as an independent artist and musician up until he joined the Circa Ensemble in 2023.

When not on stage, you can find Oscar playing bass, listening to records, or watching parkour videos.

Luke Pearce

Spring boarding from the UK to AUS Luke brought with him a decade of gymnastics and acrobatic experience with a career highlight competing at the European Championships in 2012. Following ‘retirement’ Luke gained a degree in Physiotherapy where he worked with athletes and performers for almost five years during which discovered circus and a potential use for his acrobatic skills and desires. Over the coming years this became a passion and he became a self-taught artist in the disciplines of hand to hand, banquine, group acrobatics and handstands.

In 2022 Luke left his academic career to focus as a full-time professional artist which led him most recently to join Circa in 2024. By 2025 Luke will have performed in four different continents, debuting in some of Circa’s world premiere creations and in prestigious venues such as the Sydney Opera House and Chameleon Theater in Berlin.

Luke’s other passions include travelling vast distances by bike and hiking the highest peaks he can find and he is most excited to see what adventures his journey with Circa unfolds!

Sophie Seccombe

Sophie Seccombe has cherished free movement from birth. Her slightly impetuous nature led her parents to enrol her in ballet lessons at age two. While formal training gave her a foundation, she preferred dancing in the bush and acrobatics on the roof.

Sophie stumbled upon contemporary circus at the West End markets in 2021. Immediately enthralled, circus exposed her to a world where ballet and gymnastics could be meshed with artistic expression without constraints. After a year of coaching by Gravity & Other Myths, she began touring in Rouge before engagement with Circa.

Outside of work, Sophie may be found listening to Mazzy Star, practicing Mandarin, and passionately advocating for the humbly exquisite chocolate crackle.

Zachery Stephens 

Zachery began his circus career following in the footsteps of his siblings and aspires to one day perform alongside them. With a background in competitive gymnastics and Olympic weightlifting, Zachery is no stranger to lifting weight above himself and has a terrible habit of asking anyone regardless of size to stand on him. 

Undertaking his circus studies at the National Institute of Circus Arts, he has trained for 4 years as a hand-balancer and hand to hand base. However, his true love and the place where Zachery thrives most is in an ensemble, where he can explore group acrobatics in collaboration with creative movement. Zachery’s ambition as an artist is to become as versatile as possible, to never become comfortable and most importantly, to show the world why circus is the most powerful and beautiful expression of what it means to be human.

Tristan St John

Tristan laughs a lot, produces music and people always say he doesn’t have an offswitch. 

Since the backyard trampoline, Tristan has always wanted to fly! Teeterboard and trampolining were a part of his upbringing since the age often; not a spare second was spent off it. 

During the last eleven years, he has competed at national trampoline competitions, performed Teeterboard, Acrobatics and Chinese Pole to multiple audiences and has completed a Bachelor in Circus Arts.

Adam Strom 

Adam Strom started circus classes at the age of six in Brisbane, Australia. He trained in acrobatics, aerials and juggling for 11 years with Flipside Circus, while also developing his skills in dance, music and theatre. In 2014, Adam was accepted into the Québec Circus School in Canada, where he specialised in German wheel and continued training as many other circus disciplines as he could. Since his three years of circus school, Adam has created and performed in myriad productions around the world, including Midnight Circus, Crépuscule by Flip Fabrique, and La Galerie by Machine de Cirque.

Jethro Woodward – Composer & Sound Designer 

Jethro Woodward is a Melbourne-based composer, musical director, arranger, musician and sound designer recognised for his expansive and highly layered film, theatre and dance scores. A multi Green Room Award winner and Helpmann nominee, he has worked with some of Australia’s leading major and independent companies including; Malthouse Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Victoria, Chamber Made Opera, Back to Back, Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin, Australian Dance Theatre, Aphids, Stuck Pigs Squealing, Rawcus, Kage and more.

A composition graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts, Jethro draws upon his detailed understanding of contemporary music and its uses in live performance, including innovative uses of technology, combining live instrumentation with prerecorded, electronic, musical and sound elements into a seamless flexible and responsive score.

Jethro regularly tours his work internationally and has won Green Room Awards for his work on; The Bloody Chamber (Malthouse Theatre), Moth (Malthouse Theatre/Arena Theatre), Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd (Malthouse Theatre/Arena Theatre) and Irony Is Not Enough (Fragment 31). As a guitarist and singer, he regularly performs with Meow Meow and Paul Capsis, and has been a member of the band Cordarzine over the past 15 years. He most recently was the composer of Rapture at Sydney Festival 2021, directed by Michael Kantor and starring Paul Capsis and iOTA.

Alex Berlage – Lighting Designer 

Alexander Berlage is an award-winning director and lighting designer. He is co-artistic director of the Old Fitz Theatre. Alexander has won the Sydney Theatre Award Best Direction of a Musical for the past two years in a row – for AMERICAN PSYCHO and CRY-BABY at Hayes Theatre Co.  

As a lighting designer, Alexander has worked for Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Queensland, Circa, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sydney Chamber Opera, Sydney Dance Company, Griffin Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, Hayes Theatre Co., Australian Theatre for Young People, and Redline Productions.

His smash-hit, sold-out production of AMERICAN PSYCHO won 9 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction of a Musical, Best Production of a Musical, and Best Lighting Design of an Independent Production and more.  Alexander’s production of GLORIA was nominated for 2 Sydney Theatre Awards.  Alexander’s production of CRY-BABY received rave reviews, sold out and won 4 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction of a Musical, and Best Production of a Musical. The same year, his productions of THERE WILL BE A CLIMAX, HOME INVASION and CRY-BABY received a combined total of 12 Sydney Theatre Award nominations.  For THERE WILL BE A CLIMAX, Alexander was nominated for Best Direction of an Independent Production and Best Independent Production.  

Alexander’s directing work includes: DIARY OF ONE WHO DISAPPEARED, FUTURE REMAINS (with Sydney Festival), RESONANT BODIES (Sydney Chamber Opera); YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, AMERICAN PSYCHO, CRY-BABY (Hayes Theatre Co.); GLORIA (Outhouse Theatre Co); THERE WILL BE A CLIMAX (Redline Productions/NIDA); HOME INVASION (An Assorted Few/Old 505); and THE VAN DE MAAR PAPERS (An Assorted Few/PACT).  

Alexander holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Production) and a Master of Fine Art (Directing) from the National Institute for Dramatic Art, Sydney.  In 2019, Alexander was awarded a Mike Walsh Fellowship.

Rani Luther – Dramaturg/Associate Choreographer 

Rani Luther was born in Melbourne and attended the National Theatre Ballet School before completing her year 7-12 education at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. Rani’s professional dance career began with the Kiel Ballet Company Germany in 1995 before moving to The Netherlands where she danced with world-renowned Netherlands Dance Theatre 2 and Netherlands Dance Theatre 1. In 2003 Rani returned home to dance with The Australian Ballet Company for four years, joined Sydney Dance Company in 2007 and retired from stage as a principal dancer with Melbourne Ballet Company in 2011.

Rani has had the great pleasure of working with and performing works by choreographers such as Jiri Kylián, Hans Van Manen, Paul Lightfoot, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Johan Inger, Jacopo Gordani, Edward Liang, Graeme Murphy, Stephan Page, Stephen Baynes, Adrian Burnett, and Rafael Bonachela. South Africa 1993 medal at the Sanlam International Ballet Competition, South Africa 1993, was winner of the outstanding performance award in the City of Sydney Ballet Scholarship 1994 and received a nomination for best female dancer in the Green Room Award 2006 for her roles in Relic and Jiri with The Australian Ballet Company. Rani was an adjudicator for the Sydney Eisteddfod Ballet Scholarship 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Rani’s choreographic creations include two works for NDT Workshop performances 2001/2002, Face the Music for Carriage works Theatre Sydney 2012, Illuminate for MBC Empyrean season 2016 and Outside In for The Sydney Dance Company Pre-Professional season 2017. In 2018 Rani choreographed Lunar for Queensland Ballet’s inaugural season of Synergy and in 2019 Heartstrings for the Australian Ballet Company’s Bodytorque season. In 2020 Rani choreographed From. To. Here for Queensland Ballet’s Bespoke season and in 2022 choreographed Butterfly Effect for the inaugural season of TDC presents Encore season. In 2019 Rani was appointed Ballet Mistress and Creative Associate for Queensland Ballet and in 2022-2023 Creative Associate for Queensland Ballet and Thomas Dixon Centre in which Rani curated the Secret Lives of Costumes exhibition in collaboration with Griffith University QAC, produced, curated, and choreographed four Global Fusion series performances in collaboration with Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre and curated, produced and choreographed the Encore season in November 2022. Rani founded Flourish by Rani Luther in 2023.

Marty Evans – Associate Director 

Marty Evans came to circus by a more roundabout route than most. Marty left behind his published scientific career at Australia’s only nuclear reactor to embrace his physical sports background and pursue a career in circus. Marty then trained at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne. Marty is a fiercely determined and hardworking hand-to-hand base that enjoys exploring new challenges and techniques. It was at NICA that Marty first came across Circa and was inspired by the combination of artistic and physical excellence. Marty joined the Circa Ensemble full time in 2015 and has been involved in the creation of numerous Circa productions including Humans, Humans 2.0, Sacre, and Duck Pond. In 2023 Marty completed a Master’s in Arts and Cultural Management and in 2024 he took up the role of Executive Officer at Circa.

Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa ensemble.

Director, Stage Design Yaron Lifschitz 
Composer and Sound Designer Jethro Woodward
Costume Designer Libby McDonnell
Lighting Designer Alexander Berlage
Associate Director Marty Evans
Dramaturg/Associate Choreographer Rani Luther 
Voice Over Artist Elise Greig 

Footage of brutal swan fight used with the kind permission of Carl Bovis.

International representation 
Allen Moon / David Lieberman Artists’ Representatives USA, Canada, Central & South America 
Shaun Comerford / Circa Commercial Projects
Wolfgang Hoffmann / Aurora Nova Worldwide booking & coordination
Yaron Lifschitz / Circa New creations & big dreams