FREE PROGRAM PROUDLY MADE POSSIBLE BY
LIMBO
STRUT & FRET, UNDERBELLY PRODUCTIONS AND SOUTHBANK CENTRE AUSTRALIA
LIMBO STRUT & FRET, UNDERBELLY PRODUCTIONS AND SOUTHBANK CENTRE AUSTRALIA
THE SPIEGELTENT FESTIVAL VILLAGE 8–26 JANUARY 70MINS NO INTERVAL
PRODUCED BY Strut & Fret Production House Underbelly Productions Southbank Centre CREATED BY Scott Maidment DIRECTOR Scott Maidment COMPOSER AND MUSICAL DIRECTOR Sxip Shirey ORIGINAL SET AND LIGHTING DESIGNER Philip Gladwell ILLUSION DESIGNER Paul Kieve CHOREOGRAPHER Hilton Denis COSTUME DESIGNER Zoë Rouse CAST Danik Abishev Evelyne Allard Grant Arthur Mikael Bres Hilton Denis Heather Holliday Sxip Shirey Mick Stuart Tigris limbotheshow.com
THE PRODUCTION Following the success of Cantina’s season at London Wonderground in 2012, we wanted to create a new experience that was again designed specifically for the unique environment of a 1920s Spiegeltent; it is circus in the purest form – with the audience in a circle surrounding the action. What you will see is the fusion of the extraordinary talents of those onstage tonight. The creation of LIMBO came, as many of my shows have, from the unique blend of the performers gathered, in this case, from all corners of the globe. The performers were not cast for roles as such, but were more part of a curatorial recipe. Music was the first part of the process and my invitation to Sxip Shirey became one of the creative driving forces of this production. I needed some musicians to match his eclectic and idiosyncratic blend and was excited when both Mick Stuart and Grant Arthur accepted my invitation to take part.
All photos: David Solm.
All performers needed to be extremely multi-skilled. Whilst they are indeed specialists within their field, I was particularly interested in ‘what else can you do?’ At some stage everyone will sing, dance or pick up a musical instrument.
THE MUSIC OF LIMBO New York City band-leader Sxip Shirey calls the music for the show JANK! JANK is constantly surprising, always funky, very sexy and a little bit off-kilter. It’s a New York City Brass Band dancing through New Orleans on their way to an all-night house party in Berlin. At other times it is absurdly beautiful. Absurd because you won’t believe such gorgeous other-wordly sounds can come out of such common everyday objects, toys and traditional instruments.
With performers arriving from Montreal, New York, Marseille and Australia – all from extremely different backgrounds and with different influences, we have created an immediate family environment and I believe you can feel this within the show. In one way or another, I have crossed paths with almost all of the performers at some stage over Shirey manipulates harmonicas the last ten years, sometimes without through a bullhorn and customised even knowing it. effects into sounding like a dirty, funky church organ and turns I wanted to blend music, dance, marbles rolling inside glass bowls circus, sideshow, magic, acrobatics and spectacle, all of which becomes into a floating choir of ghosts. Mick Stuart plays the beautiful 150-tined totally amplified when the audience electric kalimba (aka the Polymba), is so close to the performers. On only a 3.6 metre diameter stage, the deftly crafting Polyrythmic sound layers and then jumping behind the world of LIMBO is literally in, above drum kit to kick out the beats. Grant and around the audience. Arthur has electronically rigged up Within the environment of the his sousaphone to play dub-step tent, you’ll be in no doubt that you bass lines, but then can strap on the are in fact part of the world that banjo and tear through a bluegrass makes LIMBO. break down. Between the musicians and the cast, over 50 instruments Scott Maidment, Director and sound-making devices are played during the show.
DANIK ABISHEV Arystan Danik Abishev began performing in the circus at the age of four, among the acclaimed artists of the Soviet Union’s state circuses (at the height of their international recognition). After an award-winning tour of China, where the circus received the title of Honoured Artists of Russia, Danik moved to Australia where he toured the country extensively as part of the Circus Royale. His revolutionary hand-balancing routines have been sought out by circus and non-circus productions alike, he has performed with the hip-hop group Tom Tom Crew in the Middle East and South America and earned a position among the finalists in Australia’s Got Talent in 2009. EVELYNE ALLARD Evelyne Allard specialised in aerial hoop at the National Circus School of Montreal. She has worked with the renowned Swiss director Daniele Finzi Pasca, performing in the operas Pagliacci and L’amour de loin and with Cirque du Soleil, where she was the original cast member of Corteo. She was also an original cast member of Cirque Éloize and Compagnia Finzi Pasca’s production Nebbia. Evelyne is accomplished at aerial chains, chandeliers, “étoile”, boleadoras, Spanish web, trapeze, tango and the piano accordion.
GRANT ARTHUR Grant Arthur started playing music at the age of eight. He has travelled the world, from the USA to Europe and the UK to the Caribbean, performing a range of musical styles: jazz, Dixieland, bluegrass, brass band, western swing and hip-hop. He can play the trombone, sousaphone, brass trumpet, tuba, banjo, dobro, steel guitar and electric bass. He has supported and collaborated with Ben Walsh, Christina and Dick Hughes, Bellyache Ben and the Steamgrass Boys, and the High Tops Brass Band. Grant released his first album, A Very Grant Arthur Christmas in 2012. MIKAEL BRES Mikael Bres graduated from school in Avignon, France, with a major in literature and art. He was accepted into ESAC, (the college of circus arts), in Belgium, where he learned to master the Chinese Pole, as well as acrobatics, dance and theatre. Mikael has travelled the world with the circus companies Circle of Eleven and Cirque du Soleil. He has also taught himself to sing, beatbox and play the guitar and saxophone. Mikael can also speak English, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, Mandarin, Chinese, Portuguese and Turkish.
HILTON DENIS Hilton Denis is a regular dancer for Timomatic and has performed at live and televised events nationally and internationally and at concerts with Janet Jackson, Salt-N-Pepa, David Guetta and Flo Rider, and the El Evento 40 Radio Festival in Mexico. Recent theatre credits include the Australian tour of West Side Story. Television credits include the premiere series of So You Think You Can Dance Australia, Farscape and performances on Australia’s Next Top Model, MTV Video Music Awards and the Helpmann Awards. Hilton has worked with many of Australia’s leading choreographers, with stage credits for Le Grand Cirque, Dolly Teen Choice Awards, Dream Ball, Billabong – Girls Get Out There Tour and Yeosu Expo. He is a dancer with Natalie Bassingthwaighte and performed in her music video, Alive.
HEATHER HOLLIDAY A New York City native, Heather Holliday started her career as a high school intern at the Coney Island Circus Sideshow. As a teenager, she held the title of being the youngest female sword swallower in the world. Heather has been touring nationally and internationally with the Pretty Things Peepshow since 2009 and with the Brothers Grim Sideshow in 2007 and 2008. She debuted her latest show, The Curious Couple from Coney, with partner Donny Vomit at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Heather is featured on the label of Sword Swallower beer by Coney Island Lager and has been seen eating and breathing fire and swallowing swords in music videos for 50 Cent and Rick Ross (and in television shows around the world). She also hosted the MTV Iggy show. MICK STUART Mick Stuart is a self-taught artist who began playing in bands and performing solo shows from the age of 12. He plays the drums, bass, guitar and saxophone, and in 2009 he designed and built his own instrument, the Polymba. Mick has performed in many bands, including Eddie Perfect & The Renovators, Sunchasers, Chris Gudu Band (Zimbabwe), Rumpunch and more recently with Green Man Theory, his latest Polymba-based project. Mick was the lead guitarist and
saxophonist in the multi-Helpmann Award-winning show Keating! The Musical for two years, as well as playing the part of Cheryl Kernot. He also played the bass in Eddie Perfect’s musical Misanthropology. Mick has performed in Legs on the Wall’s My Bicycle Loves You and The Arrival with The Orkestra of the Underground. SXIP SHIREY Gene ‘Sxip’ Shirey is an electricacoustic oriented composer and performer from Ohio currently residing in New York City. Sxip has performed around the world, from underground clubs in Brooklyn (Rubulad) to Europe (Luminescent Orchestrii) and the Sydney Opera House (The Daredevil Opera Company). He has also presented at TED (solo performance). He wrote the music for Neil Gaiman’s short film Statuesque and recently opened the Evelyn Evelyn international tour with co-creators Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. His work utilises found objects, traditional instruments, computer and re-imaged instruments such as Industrial Flutes, Bullhorn Harmonicas, Regurgitated Music Box, Triple Extended Pennywhistles, Miniature Hand Bell Choir, Obnoxiophone, Glass Bowls with Red Marbles and a clutch of curious objects.
TIGRIS At the age of seven, Tigris started training to become a professional contortionist and was starring in his first shows at just 11 years old. After a couple of circus engagements, his talents were discovered, earning him a place on the German cabaret scene – where he soon became one of Europe’s leading male contortionists. In 2008, he represented Germany at the International Circus Festival of Budapest. Besides his extreme flexibility, he is also a skilled hula-hooper and has worked as an aerialist on double trapeze and aerial hoop.
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