Two of our local circuses are your traditional big tops (one with animals and one without) but the one I’m interested in is Circus Oz.
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| Circus Oz |
Circus Oz started as a collective in Melbourne, now call the Pram Factory because they all got together in a disused Pram Factory. It was an artistic collective and like any good collective there were probably lots of idle moments, drug taking, and speculation of brilliant careers for which no efforts were actually made. The Pram Factory was surprisingly fertile ground though, something to with the times, and provided a creative spark that illuminated for many years to come, just as punk did for music for the next generation. Out of this Pram Factory came Circus Oz. By this short bio I want only to point out that Circus Oz are something of a low-key national cultural icon (or something, words fail me).
Circus Oz have gone all steam punk in this show, and it’s a beautifully realized show, with sets, costumes and a continuity of theme that are the best I’ve seen from Circus Oz. What’s more, there’s a fixie involved, and if you want to see a fixie dismantled and ridden like a unicycle then you’ll need to see Circus Oz. Sadly you may have missed you chance this time around. Circus Oz visit the Gold Coast every couple years so keep an eye out.
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| Stage Whispers review here. |
The other circus I referred to above is the Kendrick Monk traveling side show circus. I reported the other day with much gnashing of teeth and beating of breast that Kendrick had been mowed down by idiots in a car. Turns out the Kendrick was both victim and perpetrator in this incident.
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| It kinda is if you lie about it. |
It all started with a skateboard. Kendrick is like one of those guys in ancient seafaring days who could not resist the allure of the sirens. “Skate me, skate me,” the skateboard kept repeating. And like a middle class, over trained, extraordinarily healthy zombie he stumbled toward the skateboard, put one foot on and pushed…
Sadly for Kendrick, this was all part of the skateboards plan, and Kendrick soon found himself on the ground hurt and confused, his elbow broken and his plans for World Pool Dominance in ruins. So rather than tell everyone what he’d done Kendrick did what any other self-respecting moron would do, he made up an elaborate story.
It’s a great story and has served its purpose well. You see, Kendrick felt like a bit of a dolt admitting that he fell off a skateboard, so he disguised it so beautifully with the hit-and-run story. I love it when a plan comes together…and then falls apart so spectacularly.
What is it with Olympic athletes? When they’re not selling drugs to maintain a habit or killing their newborn children they’re concocting wild stories to keep police busy. That’s why the fixie boom is so great, because it’s all about posing around on a bike without trying to prove you’re the best…or it would be if it wasn’t so fucking gay.
