Dark Circus

Only rarely do festival programmes feature productions for the whole family. Dark Circus is such a rare bird. This »black« circus is based on a story by Pierre Elie Ferrier, a French writer and book illustrator who also goes by the sobriquet Pef. His understanding of circus was given tangible life by Jean-Baptiste Maillet and Romain Bermond, who are both musicians and stage designers. The outcome is an incredible succession of disasters:The aerialist crashes to the ground, the lions eat the lion tamer, and the human cannonball is projected into outer space. »Come for the show, stay for the woe« is the slogan of this extravagant spectacle: in a dark circus, the humour, too, must be sombre!

Acrobatics, dancing, shadow and puppet theatre, mute and animated film alternate on the screen. How the fascinating principle behind the creation of all these heartrending stories works is something audiences must find out for themselves: they can observe the artists as they manipulate and move all elements that make up the show, watch them conjure up brilliant silhouettes from pieces of cardboard – and finally see how everything comes together magically on the screen to forge a circus universe.

This is the first performance of STEREOPTIK shown in Vienna.