The Festival provides circus artists with the opportunity to show new work they've created. This includes ‘Storm’, the first show by The Generating Company, building upon the skills and expertise gained over the past two years by the performers and production team of the Millennium Show in the Dome. Last September The Circus Space received funding from the London Development Agency’s Skills Development Fund to pilot a Artist & Company Development Centre . This included a commissioning fund for which twenty-two applications were made – the resulting shows are in this festival.

Tickets for all shows are available through ticketmaster on 020 7316 4740 (24 hours with booking fee) and at all ticketmaster ticket centres including all branches of Tower Records nationwide, selected branches of HMV and Waitrose and the Virgin Megastore Piccadilly. Book online at www.ticketmaster.co.uk

What is she baking in her kitchen? Or WHO for that matter? Is sulphur really necessary for bubble and squeak? Or is this show a smokescreen for a more sinister scheme? Philomena, grim clown and TV Chef, oversees a feast of macabre intentions, an aerial comedy of culinary intrigue. Ferdinando and Zaccarini are known for their recipes of theatrical circus, black humour and a startling animation of space. With an appetite for the darker ingredients of the human psyche, their highly physical work places a heart at the centre of visual theatre.

For this new production Flick Ferdinando whisks together the performance talents of Gisele Edwards, Pascal Straiton, John-Paul Zaccarini and the musical composition of Peter Coyte. As a director Ferdinando has devised and directed with Stretch People, Mimbre, and The Dirty Nans. She is Head of Theatre at The Circus Space. Zaccarini has performed with DV8 Physical Theatre, as the soloist SkyBoy in the Dome show and with Cirque Archaos. Philomena's Feast is Ferdinando/Zaccarini's second show, following on from the acclaimed ‘Throat’.

El Farid - Genevieve Monastesse

A five-minute piece, on the rope and trapeze, inspired by the music of L. McKenneth. All in red and gold in the middle of the night.

Lifeline - Matilda Leyser

‘Lifeline’ is a solo corde lisse act which integrates a high level of aerial skill with vivid theatrical images, taking the everyday into the air. The rope is the line of a single human life-time, a ‘lifeline’. Through movement on the ground, travelling upwards in the air, the successive phases of a life unfold.
Performed and devised by Matilda Leyser, Directed by Brenda Waite, Music composed by Daniel Weaver

Re-inventing the Wheel - Lindsey Butcher and Sophy Griffiths and Michele Weaver

"…a medieval torture consisting of a wheel to which the victim was tied."
At times during rehearsal we have felt this description to be most appropriate! However, we will endeavour to ensure that the presentation will be somewhat more pleasurable, both to watch and to perform. A collaboration between Lindsey Butcher and Sophy Griffiths, and Michele Weaver as designer.

Itchy Boys - Ian Marchant and Will Cleary

The 'itchy boys' a.k.a. Ian Marchant and Will Cleary, performing together on stage for the first time, premiering their new show. They invite you in to take a sneaky peek at a playful and surreal world of clown, mime, dance and object manipulation.

Storm

A Generating Company production in association with The Circus Space Festival Tues 17 April to Sat 12 May Tue – Thurs, 7.30pm Fri & Sat 7.00pm & 9.30pm. Show runs approx. 70mins Tue – £12.50/£10 concs. Wed – Fri. £15/£10 concs. Sat £17.50/no concs. Groups of 10+ are £2.50 off full price. All tickets plus booking fee

The Generating Company sets to ignite audiences with its first electrifying show, Storm. The audience will enter a dimly lit Combustion Chamber and find themselves in a strange reality. Storm follows the day to day activities of a group of disparate characters living in ‘the city’, tracing several storylines as the day unfolds. Incorporating vivid imagery, stunning aerial skills, daring and technical wizardry the show will turn reality into fantasy at every opportunity. The impression is of a world turned slightly sideways and where the ordinary is made extraordinary.

Co-Directed by Matt Costain, Sean Kempton, Corinne Pierre and Abigail Yeates.
Production Designer – Mark Fisher
Musical Director and composer – Akintayo Akinbode
with 21 talented performers comprise mainly but not exclusively of members of the cast who performed in the Dome’s Millennium show.

PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION by DAVID ASH

Thurs 12th April to Sat 12 May - Free

David Ash, with over 25 years in advertising photography collecting many industry awards along the way, wanted to explore a personal ambition.

"I've always admired the human capability to push itself beyond its limits. I came to The Circus Space intending to capture on film the strength, power and expertise of the performers. I found much more – an enthusiasm and spirit that drives them constantly to new feats and achievements, and an enormous source of talent waiting to be tapped – these pictures of degree students only touch on it."