New Vic swings into theatre and circus programme

Published: 23 March 2018
Reporter: Steve Orme

Flying high: the New Vic’s Circus 50:50 artist development programme

Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre has announced that ten theatre-makers and circus performers have been selected for its Circus 50:50 artist development programme.

The programme is part of the Newcastle-under-Lyme theatre-in-the-round’s Circus Past, Present and Future celebrations marking 250 years of modern circus.

The New Vic will work with London’s Roundhouse and circus theatre pioneers Upswing “to develop a critical dialogue across the art forms”.

The artists are: Catherine Boot, artistic director of Can’t Sit Still; Ellie Dubois, listed on the British Council’s Artist to Watch List 2017; Daniela Essart, co-founder and artistic director of touring and site-specific aerialists Scarabeus; Fergus Evans, performance artist and theatre-maker; Sarah Fielding, circus and theatre director and associate director of Invisible Circus; Rowan James, poet, theatre-maker and educator who draws on his lived experiences of disability discrimination; Layla Rosa, circus artist, theatre-maker and founder member of performance collective Shunt; Roland Smith, founding member and co-artistic director of Theatre Delicatessen; Rishi Trikha, actor, director, writer and dramaturg; and John Walton, director of theatre, comedy, opera and circus, and artistic director of Fol Espoir.

A course will be led by Vicki Amedume, artistic director of Upswing and a New Vic collaborator. It will run from 13 April until 6 May, with two sessions at the New Vic and one at the Roundhouse. Sessions will be delivered by directors and practitioners from across the arts, including New Vic artistic director Theresa Heskins.

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