CATCH!

CATCH! is a circus theatre work that examines early relationship dynamics and the nature of how we form friendships and connections as we move from solo play to working together -how we create imaginative friends, worlds and safe spaces for ourselves to manage our early relationships and socially challenging environments. We explore the nature of competition, success and failure via ball games, object transformation and game playing. The body in movement is at the core of our storytelling, interacting in space, with various sporting equipment, circus apparatus, sound and light.

Olivia is the new kid .Peta, Peter and Lizzy are really good at playing ball. Olivia can’t catch. Olivia can find her present a bit of a challenge and loves to create worlds where she can play and have more fun. Olivia wants to make friends. Through play Olivia openly expresses how she feels and how she sees her world. She imagines and transforms objects into ‘other’ things. She makes up imaginative worlds and ‘friends’. Her journey sees her facing various physical struggles and one by one overcoming her fears! Her journey is also learning how to share & play with the others.

Peta, Peter and Lizzy are not so sure about the way Olivia does things. They don’t understand Olivia as she does things differently from the way that they do. Olivia also takes them to places they have never been before. (eg: Fitballs becomes frogs jumping chasing flies) Together through a series of ball ‘matches’, stand offs, tennis wrestles, basket head-balling and other ‘ball’ adventures, exploring, playing, watching, and making discoveries they finally learn how to overcome their differences and all play “ball’ together.

Form and Style:

Circus, Theatre & Puppetry meet in this high energy, playful and imaginative take on our love of sport and all things sporty. Our cast jump, roll, bounce and throw as they learn to ‘look before they leap’ while ‘having a ball’!! It is a non-verbal, ground based, highly physical work where objects and apparatus take on a personality all of their own. Catch! involves the transformation of familiar objects, apparatus and human bodies. CATCH has been created via a rigorous dramaturgical process and holds the circus, puppetry and physicality strongly within a narrative frame creating an experience that is narrative driven with clear character journeys and a story that is accessible and relatable to it’s target audience. The audience walk into the performance space to see s a sporting court filled with four colourful characters and an assortment of balls. Kids and adults a like are gently invited to come onto the court and play. Balls are passed, new games are created and the energy is set for the show! And then we begin… we enter the world of Olivia. Through a series of stylised failed attempts and near misses we enter the world of imaginative play. Circus tricks and puppetry transport us into a world slightly left of the norm. Racquet birds, gravity defying acts, curious clowning and lots of bouncing! We journey with her through her struggles in a series of highly physical routines that heavily reference real life games- football, basketball, tennis and cricket. Her joy prevails! Imagination, the big winner. Audiences see acrobatic feats, juggling, handstands, human balancing, transformative puppetry, gravity defying tennis matches, fit-ball ballet and gentle beautiful moments of audience participation that make the child audience member feel like a super star and children adults alike ready to go and play.

Community and Audience Engagement:

MAXIMA love running workshops along side this project and have specially designed workshops to accompany the work. This specialised workshop is presented by the cast and is made up of three sections that include puppetry, dance and clowning. Workshops can be delivered prior or post show. Our engagement program is hands on, interactive and explores developing young imaginations through play. Our artists use exercises we have devised over the residencies that incorporate an introduction to transformational play, puppetry, circus skills & dance while supporting our shows themes of sharing and teamwork, while building physical coordination, with plenty of space for individual expression

Available Marketing:

• Previous production images
• Edited show trailer
• Sample media from previous seasons