Thursday, August 23, 2012

Circus Trick Tease - INTERVIEWS




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Starter:Circus Trick Tease

Teasers by name and teasers by nature, Circus Trick Tease are one feature act at the infamous Gangster’s Ball this September. Performer Shannon McGurgan let’s a few tricks out of the bag. “One ‘trick teaser’ is Mr. Plonk picking up female audience members,” snickers McGurgan, “continuing with a magician’s sleight of hands.” Another is the love triangle, which takes a decidedly queer twist on the traditional. And another yet again, is a narrative-driven circus show – Gasp. McGurgan is a circus performer and acrobat who trained the troupe in specialized acrobalance skills. He started in gymnastics and moved professionally into circus beginning with The Circus Arts School in Atlanta Georgia and culminating ten years later as one of the first graduates from The National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne.

”Malia has a background in ballet, much of her career has been as a fire performer,” McGurgan explains, “including training in Samoa and New Zealand in both art forms. Farhad grew up doing gymnastics in his home country of Iran and wasn’t tied to any formulaic structure so he performs amazing skills, freestanding headstand on a bottle, a trick rarely done by Western trained performers. Farhad has toured for a decade with circuses around the world.

“Miss Tinkle and Mr. Plonk run the circus, they are a couple too. It’s a typically dysfunctional relationship seen in most marriages that have outlived their usefulness. Unfortunately, they feel that need to stay together in order for the circus to survive, a metaphor for soooooo many relationships perhaps. Miss Tinkle drinks for solace, Mr. Plonk has the veneer of a “sensitive” man, but, his real agenda, all the crying and fawning, is to get down your pants, any pants, he’s not too fussed.”

See the Circus Trick Tease at The Gangsters Ball in Sydney, Saturday 1 September at Metro Theatre, Melbourne on Saturday 8 September, Forum Theatre, and Brisbane Saturday 15, The Tivoli.

Paul Andrew

Drum (Aug 21, 2012) Inpress (Aug 22, 2012) Time Off (Aug 22, 2012)

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