Feast of the spectacular

Circus Oz plays at the Bruce Mason Centre on Auckland's North Shore from March 5-15. Photo / Supplied

Culture vultures will be steeling themselves for 18 days of sensory overload as the fourth Auckland Festival kicks off this Thursday.

With more than 200 events, ranging from late-night intimate cabaret, forums and workshops to lavish multi-media theatre and musical performances plus an open-air party on Queen St, the festival looks set to briefly banish the recession blues and blow noisily through the city.

Festival director David Malacari cites the energy of the Pacific Ocean as the metaphor chosen to underpin this year's event, running until March 22.

"Certainly Auckland is a palpably Pacific city," he says. "The ocean connects our community to the great cultures of the Pacific and from there to the rest of the world. It gives us a geographic context for work and artists from Japan, Vietnam, China, Australia, North America and the Pacific Islands.

"The ocean also brings storms, danger and excitement," adds Malacari, who promises plenty to challenge festival-goers.

Festival ambassador Te Radar, who will be writing an experiential blog throughout the coming events, is urging audiences to be adventurous.

"I hope people decide to take a risk on things," he says. "Part of the balance of putting this on is to offer something a little more edgy. We're asking people to go along and experience that edginess. Take a risk, even if it's something you might hate. Hopefully the ticket prices won't be prohibitive. It's about putting people outside their comfort zone."

International highlights include the spectacular stage production Nostalgia (March 11-15) by Japanese company Ishinha, which recounts through dance, theatre and music the story of Japanese immigrants to South America at the dawn of the 20th century. The Andersen Project (March 19-22), by internationally acclaimed director Robert Lepage, is another innovative stage production. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fables and incorporating live performance, puppets and startling video backdrops, it is a chance for Aucklanders to experience the work of one of the world's most creative theatre directors.

French/Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola presents a world premiere of her new work The White Body (March 6-9), exploring the meanings of servitude and freedom in the context of globalisation - Malacari's pick of the programme.

"The festival certainly feels bigger this year," says Malacari. "We have a couple of very, very big, complex shows, more than we have seen in the past."

The irrepressible and irreverent Circus Oz (March 5-15) returns to New Zealand with a new show guaranteed to amuse and possibly outrage, while fellow Aussies Bell Shakespeare presents a sexy and subversive re-working of Venus & Adonis (March 18-22).

There is also an impressive programme of New Zealand work, featuring a number of local and world premieres, including the politically charged dance production Gathering Clouds (March 5-8) by Black Grace, Taonga (March 12-15) by Atamira Dance Collective, Auckland Theatre Company's The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in Her Sleep (March 12-April 4) and The Arrival (March 12-15), a tribute to migrants and refugees by Red Leap Theatre, amongst many others.

Part of Queen St will be closed off for the Sing Sing concert (March 7, 7.30pm-9pm) in Aotea Square, a free world-music party celebrating the songs of Oceania.

Te Radar says he is particularly relishing the prospect of seeing New Zealand productions on big stages, notably The Arrival at The Civic. He is also eagerly anticipating Te Karakia (March 5-8), by Taki Rua Productions, a love story with religious and racial overtones set amid the civil unrest of the 1981 Springbok Tour.

The heart of the festival for many will be Red Square (March 5-22), a combination of The Famous Spiegeltent in Aotea Square and the Festival Club beneath the Aotea Centre, hosting a moveable feast of cabaret, comedy, music and burlesque, including the risque La Clique (March 5-8, 10-15, and 17-22), chanteuse Camille O'Sullivan with her versions of Jacques Brel and Tom Waits' classics, musical comedian Tim Minchin, New Zealand soulstress Ladi6, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Anika Moa, SJD and many others.

"The relocation of Red Square from the Viaduct will put it right in people's faces this year," says Malacari. "There will be a sense of something palpably different about the centre of the city. That's where the artists will hang out. It'll be an exciting place."

The festival also includes visual-arts installations, a chamber-music series and a programme of events to feed the mind, including forums, workshops, master classes and seminars run by local and international artists.

Malacari hopes the festival programme will enrich the city and appeal to a wide audience, including children and families.

He expects tens of thousands of tickets to be sold, injecting a financial boost into the economy of Auckland, which has been suffering from the economic downturn.

"These economic measures are important," says Malacari, "but the true worth of the Auckland Festival lies in the social and cultural value it will add to our city."

The Auckland Festival runs from March 5-22. For more information about acts go to www.aucklandfestival.co.nz Te Radar's blog (www.aucklandfestival.co.nz/TeRadar) will be live from tomorrow, but it officially launches on March 5.

Speaking down the line from his office in Melbourne, Circus Oz impresario Mike Finch sounds slightly breathless.

"I've been riding my bike," he explains. "I used to be an acrobat, but I've been behind a desk for a while. It's the only way to avoid becoming a blimp."

Finch has been with the internationally renowned Circus Oz for a dozen years, although these days his job description is artistic director and co-CEO, although he can still stand in when people have been injured.

The Aussie circus, one of the star attractions of the upcoming Auckland Festival, is celebrating its 30th anniversary but, Finch assures, the show is far from jaded.

"Running Circus Oz is like herding cats," he says with a laugh. "It's closer to a rock band, really."

The 20-strong company is bringing a radically different show to the one which toured New Zealand several years ago, although Finch promises its blend of anarchic action and irreverent, politically tinged humour will be as lively as ever.

Acts include a "teeter board" see-saw with performers in kangaroo suits, a female clown in a giant steel hula hoop, chair stacks balanced on champagne bottles and a flaming tightwire show featuring an exploding outdoor dunny, all accompanied by an orchestra dressed in tuxedos playing original songs in a style Finch describes as a mixture of "gypsy fusion, rock'n'roll and comic vaudeville".

In an era when touring circuses, such as Cirque du Soleil and Le Grand Cirque, are becoming ever more spectacular, this bunch of madcap Aussies have somehow kept pulling in crowds around the world for three decades.

So what's their secret?

"It's simple," says Finch. "Circus Oz is the original and still the best of the modern, animal-free circuses because, right from its inception in 1978, it has never tried to hide its Antipodean roots.

"At that time, circuses still had sawdust in tents, animals, all the same families. It was a closed shop and a dying art form. The idea of taking animals out of circuses and focusing on the people - with a political edge to the comedy - was all brand new. That first tour of Europe was a ground-breaking experiment. It pre-dates Cirque du Soleil by seven or eight years."

He says Circus Oz has an Antipodean irreverence which the more serious Northern Hemisphere shows can't match.

"The others are hugely spectacular, but they're not designed for kids. Cirque du Soleil is like a big soup of cultural influences. "(But) there is something important about having your own culture. My Kiwi friends understand that. The message has to come from somewhere."

Circus Oz is like a big, noisy family, constantly on the move. The company was in Milan recently when news of the devastating bushfires in its native Victoria hit the front pages. The tragedy affected the whole company, Finch says.

Circus Oz also differs from other companies because it unashamedly wears its social conscience on its sleeve. They've delighted in baiting George W. Bush and former Australian premier John Howard over such issues as their refugee policies.

"Instead of a human cannon, we had a humanitarian cannon," laughs Finch. "We'd fire someone over the razor wire and they'd land on the crash mat of human consciousness."

The humour appeals to New Zealand and British audiences, but apparently doesn't always translate well in more conservative environments. "New Zealand is like a breath of fresh air for us," he explains. "Our sense of exuberance is closer to the Antipodean humour than somewhere like Texas in the Bible-belt, which can be even weirder for us than Milan or Mexico. There will be stuff about New Zealand in the Auckland show. But it'll be more like a love-in, really."

With limited resources, multi-skilling is a must. One musician plays 15 instruments. A saxophone player may also be a clown and an acrobat - and fix the rigging.

It's a nomadic life but Finch loves it and the circus lifestyle. He has no doubt that Circus Oz will still be touring in 30 years. "There's a deep human need for being in a room with a bunch of people celebrating something," he says. "It's like the old saying, `bread and circuses'. People need to eat and to be entertained."

* Circus Oz plays at the Bruce Mason Centre on Auckland's North Shore from March 5-15.