UNITY

Gorilla Circus

Circus, Dance, Aerial, Installation, Music/Sound, Theatre

An aerial performer wearing all white is suspended in the air by their dark hair. They are holding a red smoke bomb in their right hand. It is night time and they are lit from behind.

UNITY is a reflection on community, an act of protest, a call for change and a dream for the future. A large-scale, aerial-spectacular production featuring wire-walking, dance trapeze, hair hanging and hydraulics which merges immersive theatre, circus and community stories in a powerful but intimate way.

The show is focused around a poem which has been commissioned by a local artist of each location the show is performed in. Each spectacle is both relevant and unique.

UNITY is a large-scale production that merges immersive theatre, circus, and community stories in a powerful but intimate way whilst remaining adaptable and affordable to promotors. Using a series of cables strung between truss masts spread over a 60m area, UNITY allows audiences to be close to and in amongst the action as hair hanging artists, dance trapeze and high wire walkers travel overhead. The performers are accompanied by a ‘cast’ of mannequins who floating up from ground level represent a generation of underserved people. In each location a local poet is recruited to work with the community to create a unique piece of text which is mixed into the existing music to create the soundtrack for the show.

About Gorilla Circus

Gorilla Circus is a contemporary circus production company specialising in large scale outdoor circus shows; imaginative, sophisticated high-octane works with strong narratives surrounding global issues.

Funding, commissioning and partner credits:

UNITY is supported by Without Walls and commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival and Certain Blacks.

Image credits © Luke Witcomb