Bringing the Albury Wodonga region alive with vibrant circus and cabaret across three jam-packed weeks, the Flying Fruit Fly Circus kicks off the 2023 Borderville Festival.
Home to the Flying Fruit Fly Circus since it was founded in 1979, Albury-Wodonga has an incredibly rich community of world-renowned circus artists connected to the region, and is arguably Australia’s regional capital of circus.
The 2023 Borderville program is a love letter to these artists and this community – to the young kids who are at the very beginning of their circus story, to the 18-year-olds about to graduate, to the professional artists returning to the place they grew up – ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Returning to Junction Square, the Fruit Fly ensemble will perform a new work Changes across two events for Circus in the Square on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 December, in partnership with City of Wodonga.
The festival will also return to Gateway Island in 2023 with three special shows performed by some of Australia’s finest independent circus artists, all with long ties to the region.
Airborne by A Good Catch Circus will feature local performers Simon Yates and Jo Lancaster (acrobat) alongside Fruit Fly alumni Spenser Inwood in an ensemble of nine, in a breath-taking outdoor spectacle that combines the art of the flying trapeze with the enchanting backdrop of the Gateway Village amphitheatre.
Cult hit The Long Pigs will finally make its way to the Border after smash hit seasons in the world fringes, featuring Clare Bartholomew, Fruit Fly alumni Nicci Wilks and local artist Mozes. The Long Pigs is spine tingling original theatre, hilariously dark and frighteningly funny.
Jesse Scott and Lachlan McAulay met as students at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus and have since toured the world with their company Casus Creations. Years later, see their love story – their love of circus and of each other – on the Border, where it belongs. You & I is an unashamedly authentic journey reveals a fresh narrative where gay stories are filled with conviction, joy and acceptance.
The Grad Show: to round out an incredible festival and an incredible year of circus, the Flying Fruit Fly Circus will open their new Borderville Theatre with the amazing graduates of 2023. Seven spectacular young artists perform together for the final time.
Growing up in a circus not only develops skills and talent, but deep bonds and friendships. All are on display in this very special show featuring swinging clouds, towering chair balances, flying cubes, aerials, hoops, juggling, acrobatics, and lashings of good humour and courage.
The Borderville Theatre is the Fruit Flies first ever permanent performance space, designed for a close-up immersive circus experience seating 110 patrons. Built with a $3.3M investment from the NSW State Government, the total cost of the Borderville Theatre project is $4M.
It will be a magnet for contemporary circus artists and companies from around the nation and the globe – an intimate yet epic studio designed and built for educating, creating, and performing circus. A new space for Albury-Wodonga.
The 2023 Borderville Festival continues to 22 December. For more information and full program, visit: www.borderville.com.au for details.
Image: The Cast of The Grad Show – courtesy of Flying Fruit Fly Circus