Yaron Lifschitz talks Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Circus

Brisbane and Sydney audiences are in for a treat this festive season, as world-renowned contemporary circus company, Circa, bring their original production of Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Circus to life.

Circa is at the forefront of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus – pioneering how extreme physicality can create powerful and moving performances. They continue to push the boundaries of the art form, blurring the lines between movement, dance, theatre and circus.

I had the pleasure of catching up with the company’s Artistic Director and CEO, Yaron Lifschitz to find out.

Yaron Lifschitz is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, and [the] National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), where he was the youngest director ever accepted into its prestigious graduate director’s course. Since graduating, Yaron has directed over 60 productions including large-scale events, opera, theatre, physical theatre, and circus.

With a bio that includes six Helpmann awards and the Australia Council Theatre Award; works that have been seen in 40 countries, across six continents by over one million people; and productions at major festivals and venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Barbican, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamaleon and of course all the major Australian festivals, I was keen to find out where Yaron’s passion for circus originated and why he chose this art form as the foundation of his work.

“I don’t know I ever had or even have a passion for circus in the way that I hear other people talk about their passions,” he told me. “Quite simply, I like theatre that doesn’t bore me. I find sitting in a dark room boring and I was always trying to find a way to stay awake in the theatre. I think circus is just that, it is full of energy and vitality and I find that the excitement it brings is engaging in that way that I always wanted.”

Circa have recently completed performances of Orpheus and Eurydice and the concept of this show was incredibly unique to me. I had not seen a circus opera before and asked Yaron why he chose to fuse these art forms

“For so long we have imposed so many rules on different styles of entertainment and I wanted to get away from this; music is just music,” he told me. “When we began to conceptualise Orpheus and Eurydice, it came together very quickly. The story lends itself so much to the physicality which we were able to bring to the show. I loved the idea of breaking down the barriers of the perception around opera.”

Circa features an ensemble of exceptional, multi-skilled circus artists and the creation of Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Circus began with two talented performers at the centre of the piece.

“We had just finished working on Carnival of the Animals which had toured the world and I wanted to continue to explore the concept of taking classical music out of the concert hall. I wanted to create a follow up for young people, a show that families could enjoy together. I love Mozart and I wanted to strip away all of the pretentious stuff” he said.

“The cross-over of circus with classical music in Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Circus, enhances the impact of circus and offers a unique and captivating live performance experience. It ignites both child and child-like imaginations. It is a show for everyone, touching on the marksmanship of Mozart’s mad but magical music. The performers draw upon the frenzied, frantic and thrilling man himself turning the stage into a classical explosion of eclectic sounds and extraordinary visuals, all while wearing powder puff wigs.”

Yaron explains to me that his experience on this show didn’t quite go as smoothly as his previous creation and the show underwent a number of re-writes until he reached the production that he was happy with.

“After selecting 360 pages of music and making a number of recordings with a live accordion, we had our first version of the show. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it. I liked scenes, but not the show as a whole” he told me. “It was all there, but it was missing something. Circus has changed a lot in the last 30 years, it has added meaning in new ways it never had before, political, poetic, etc. I really had to go back and consider how do we make this story entertainment. When creating a piece of circus there is a lot to consider, acrobats have a limited resource of energy and so you often don’t have the luxury of rehearsing a piece over and over again. We have to carefully balance the physical activities with the brain stuff.”

Yaron is now pleased to confirm that he is very happy with the production and it truly represents what he set out to achieve.

Pointing out the success Circa had enjoyed on the world stage, I wanted to know what Yaron felt was his biggest achievement.

“The work I’m most proud of is our community engagement work,” he told me “we get to work with individuals who we can touch with our artistry and hopefully we are playing a part in the broader cultural-artistic conversation.”

Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Circus will be playing seasons at:

Sydney Collesium from 28th December 2019 – 4th January 2020

QPAC from 7th January – 18th January 2020