Carnival of the Animals

Show & Culture

In the animal kingdom, the laws of nature seem suspended. Kangaroos rattle off somersaults, zebras juggle with disarming ease, elephants keep the beat – and the dinosaurs haven’t had their last word. After the menacing wolves of "Wolf", Australian company Circa swaps the pack for the menagerie. Loosely inspired by Camille Saint-Saëns’s "Carnival of the Animals", the show turns the stage into a joyful bestiary: seven acrobats, red noses and clown ruffs, hoist one another aloft, pile into human pyramids, and tumble head over heels – conjuring up creatures of land, sea, and imagination. By turns funny, surprising, and delightfully unruly, they remind us that, at Circa, sheer skill is always born of the joy of play.