An award-winning stage show featuring the thrilling skills of female circus entertainers is coming to Norfolk.
The new feminist production, ‘Showwomen’, by Carnesky Production, will take over the Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth later this month.
The show, from Olivier award-winning performance maker Marisa Carnesk, will feature at the venue as part of the Out There Festival on May 30 and 31.
'Showwomen' is based on Ms Carnesky’s research as a fellow at The National Fairground and Circus Archive in the University of Sheffield.
She was inspired by the “extraordinary” stories of 1930’s pioneer clown Lulu Adams, 1940’s body magic star Koringa, 1950s sharpshooter Florence Shufflebottom and 1880’s teeth hanging aerialist superstar Miss La La.
The show is a collaboration with hair hanger and comedienne Fancy Chance, sword and spoken word artist Livia Kojo Alour and physical and fire performer Lucifire.
Audiences can expect “witchy collective going-ons in full leopard print, crocodile women scaling walls, ladders of swords, live hair hanging, never ending pom poms and ectoplasmic clowns".
The performance interweaves live action, in-depth interviews and archival footage to create a dreamlike landscape mixing death-defying stunts, strange and emotive acts, political resistance and secret backstage rituals.
The show asks why and how women perform dangerous and taboo acts and explores the legacy of forgotten and marginalised diverse British entertainers.
Doctor Marisa Carnesky is an Olivier Award-winning performer, showwoman, academic and theatre maker. She won the Olivier for her celebrated Ghost Train, which ran in London and Manchester then Blackpool for over a decade.
There will be a British Sign Language Interpretation on the Thursday and Friday performance and the Friday performance will be audio described.
Tickets are on sale now. For more information, visit: https://outtherearts.org.uk/out-there-festival/
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