Wunderage

An astonishing spectacle told through breathtaking physical feats, heart-stirring live music and honest humour, Circus Oz and Company 2 will create a mesmerising world with the premiere of Wunderage at the Meat Market from 20 June 2019.

Circus Oz Artistic Director, Rob Tannion, explains that Wunderage is an offbeat promenade performance that lets the audience immerse themselves in the show itself. “This show invites people to explore and be adventurous – especially as there are no seats that often create a barrier to the performance,” he said. “We want our audience to step into the unknown with us and just wonder.”

Wunderage is that latest collaboration between two Australian contemporary circus companies who invite people to dream, wonder and roam as the fantasy unfolds throughout the iconic Meat Market space in North Melbourne. Humanity, courage and fragility will be on display and suspended on a series of tight wires that intersect the space and elevated up to four metres.

The show emerges organically in all directions and offers an abundance of aerial acts where bicycles are precariously ridden on wires with people standing on shoulders; handstands unfold perched off tiny yet tall platforms; and acrobatic duets teeter off the edges of platforms and pianos.

As aerial slings poetically soar above audiences and acrobats effortlessly scale Chinese poles to great heights, Wunderage is absorbed in a live musical soundscape of drums, banjo, slide guitar, piano and mesmerizing voice.

Company 2 Director, Chelsea McGuffin, is thrilled to work with Australia’s national circus “People often walk a delicate tightrope between who they are and who they might become and from this tension springs Wunderage – it’s a bold new partnership that fuses the cheeky spark of Circus Oz and the poetic physicality we offer at Company 2.”

Playful, generous and peppered with mischievous wit, Wunderage explores the desire to be something you are not, and along the way will take you to places you never dared to dream possible.

Director: Rob Tannion Director / Performer: Chelsea McGuffin Featuring: Phoebe Armstrong, Grant Arthur (musician), Tania Cervantes, Robbie Curtis, Jess McCrindle, Dylan Singh, Bonnie Stewart (musician), David Trappes, Skip Walker-Milne Lighting Designer: Paul Lim Costume Designer: Harriet Oxley Production Designer: Michael Baxter Rigging Designer: Tim Coldwell Rigging Designer / Creative Collaborator: Kane Peterson Rigger / Performer: Lachy Shelley