I recently spoke to Circus OZ’s Matt Wilson. One of Matt’s specialties at Circus OZ was being fired out of a cannon. He doesn’t do that anymore because he believes he has had his daredevil days and pushed his luck enough with that particular activity.
As Matt tells me he prefers to put his trust in fellow humans rather than a mechanism! However, he still propels himself into our conversation with sheer exuberance.
Matt loves visiting Tasmania where he can get away from the ‘crazy hustle and bustle of the mainland’. He enjoys Launceston because it is a city without being completely centred on business and Matt is also keen in exploring Tassie’s wilderness.
Matt says he gets the sense of Tassie being on the edge of the world with the next stop Antarctica with its geographical opposite being a fjord in Norway!
Experiencing the world is something Matt is used to with the wide expanses the circus travels. He recalls to me a performance on 42nd street in Broadway followed by a performance in an Aboriginal community in the Kimberleys. The circus speaks all languages and crosses all age groups and unlike conventional theatre, rarely requires text.
It does however require circus performers. These performers are usually skilled in a number of areas, for example they might be experts in hula hoops but then also have the skills to take part in group work on the flying trapeze and of course being able to play an instrument adds to their accomplishments. People wishing to join the circus are able to learn while on the job or they can study a course at NICA the National Institute for Circus Arts.
In the latest production ‘Twenty Sixteen’ there is no theme, instead concentrating on the circus arts themselves. Matt says that the women performers are inspiring and beautiful and no words are needed to preach their excellence, it is just made manifest in their performance.
Circus OZ as well as having provided entertainment to Australia and the world for over 35 years also strives to help the community develop their relationships and teamwork, providing sessions, for office managers to make their team work more efficient through teaching trust on the trapeze and an opportunity for school children to gain confidence by successfully completing circus tasks. By attempting and achieving these skills children who may not have thought themselves good at anything can develop confidence to help them achieve in most areas of their lives.
Although physical acrobatics are an essential component of a circus performer Matt says the circus ‘has a place for everybody’ and ‘welcomes the diverse and the weird and everyone in between’.
You can see Circus OZ Twenty Sixteen at the Theatre Royal on the following dates and times:
Thu 22 Sep 2016 7:30pm
Fri 23 Sep 2016 7:30pm
Sat 24 Sep 2016 1:30pm
Sat 24 Sep 2016 7:30pm
