Queensland ensemble Circa Contemporary Circus's shows at the Canberra Theatre Centre are very different.
One, Mozart's Magical Musical Circus, is aimed at children and families while the other, Circa's Peepshow, has an older audience in mind.
Canberra-raised Kathryn O'Keefe, 36, appears in the Mozart show. She plays a character alone on her birthday who puts on a Mozart album, whereupon the composer (played by O'Keefe's husband, Paul) emerges from her refrigerator. They have musical adventures both in his time and the present, accompanied by an orchestral track and an accordionist (Gareth Chin) playing arrangements of Mozart's melodies.
"It's one of Circa's more theatrical shows," O'Keefe said, since the cast members play characters rather than "working in synchronisation with other bodies".
She said Mozart's Magical Music Box contained "a range of styles - circus, point work - I have a background in ballet - and slapstick comedy".
O'Keefe grew up in Canberra and studied at the National Capital Ballet School, going on to the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. She graduated from the VCA in 2005 and after a few years of independent and freelance work joined Circa in 2011. She had met Paul in Canberra in 2002 - he grew up performing with Warehouse Circus. They married in 2010 and he joined Circa in 2013.
Billie Wilson-Coffey is one of the seven ensemble members in Circa's Peepshow. She said, "It alters your perception of what you imagine a peepshow is...It's a hall of mirrors and seeing what it is to observe and what is seen and looked at."
The first half is like a cabaret performed for the audience, she said, but the second half depicts ongoing life that's observed by the audience.
"There are aerial silks, duet and group acrobatics like tower building and dynamic toss."
Wilson-Coffey.31, said she had been with Circa for eight years and performing in Circa's Peepshow for the past two. She had been involved in the show's development with artistic director Yaron Lifschitz.
Wilson-Coffey moved with her family from Sydney to the small town of Mullumbimby when she was seven. She was a gymnast but after the town gym closed, when she was 11, she joined the youth circus Spaghetti Circus.
"I fell in love with it."
After finishing high school she studied at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne.
"It was eye-opening," she said.
"I was going through a lot at the age of 18 - moving out of home, training 9 to 5 - it was a big gear shift."
In 2009, during her final year at NICA, she was invited with another student to take part in the 4th World Circus Festival in Moscow. They performed an aerial duet and won a bronze medal.
Circa's Peepshow. Circa Contemporary Circus. Canberra Theatre, November 4 to 6, at various times. Mozart's Magical Musical Circus, The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, November 6 to 7, at various times. canberratheatrecentre.com.au or phone 0262752700.
