The Space Theatre
8th November at 3.30pm
15th November at 12:30pm
Quick introduction to your production, venue and performance times.
Balance is a hand-to-hand acrobatics show by Brainfools, performed by ich-duO, that’s Jared & Toffy. One of us protects, the other hides a secret, & to bridge the gap we build a world out of found objects: industrial beer kegs, a wooden plank & glass bottles we balance on. It’s 55 minutes, no words & for all ages. You can catch it at The Space Theatre on the Isle of Dogs on Sunday 8 November at 3:30pm & Sunday 15 November at 12:30pm. Tickets are £18, or £13 concessions.
What inspired you to start making or performing theatre?
“Brainfools Cirucs + Theatre” was started by Finn & Toffy after they graduated from circus school in London, & co-artistic director Jared joined soon after. We wanted to create work that inspires people to reflect while having fun. Silly circus with a soulful message, told through theatre. So our shows are full of daft moments, kegs that won’t behave, a partner who won’t stay still, & under all of that there’s always something we actually want to say. We’d love you to laugh first & only notice afterwards that you’ve been thinking.
Have you taken this production anywhere before? How was it received by the audience?
Balance is our first duo show, which we were able to tour last year for the first time. We designed it to work in all sorts of venues, outdoors & indoors, so it’s played theatres, circus spaces & festival lawns, from Exeter Phoenix to Newcastle Circus Arts. We’ve had an amazing response across all age groups, especially from people with lived experience of the 1940s air raids. Some of the conversations we’ve had with them after the show have stayed with us much longer than the applause.
Why did you choose to perform at the Voila Festival?
Voila is known as the fringe for theatre; but global, & that’s exactly where our show Balance lives. There are no words in our show, so nothing needs translating, & the piece itself is about two people finding a way to trust each other across a gap. Toffy is Austrian, Jared is jewish, we’re a London company, & we’ve played it to audiences who speak all sorts of languages. A festival built around border-busting work, across eight venues, felt like the right home. And it means sharing a programme with artists from all over Europe & beyond.
Has there been anyone in your life who has inspired you to work in the theatre?
Toffy, one of our co-artistic directors, came to circus late. He discovered it watching a circus show in Berlin with a friend, sitting on the edge of his seat, feeling that pull of connection & passion. He started his first class in his thirties, gave up his day job soon after, moved to London, and trained at circus school. That night in Berlin is what started all of this. It’s also why we never take an audience for granted: someone in the third row might be having their own Berlin night.
How long have you been working on this particular production?
Balance has been in the making for four years. Early ideas & R&Ds started after we first met in Wales, & it has grown slowly ever since. Over those years it’s had work-in-progress showings, a 30 minute outdoor version for festivals & now the full 55 minute show. Seven outside eyes have watched it along the way & told us honestly what wasn’t working, & it’s a better show for every one of them. It still shifts a little every time we play it, which is half the fun.
Do you have anything that you are planning on seeing while you are at the Voila Festival?
We can’t wait to see Binary Lives – Where Fate Takes Us by Dis Èquilibre from Italy, at The Cockpit on 4 & 6 November. It’s a wordless duet about two strangers stuck on a station bench, waiting for a train that never arrives, told through balances, acrobatics & pantomime. That sounds very close to home for us! We love watching another duo solve the same puzzles we do, like how you build trust on stage without saying a word, & we’ll probably come out with a few ideas to steal.
What would you like audiences to take away from your production?
Our piece is about overcoming borders, acceptance & friendship. We want audiences to feel touched & to open their hearts, even in turbulent times. Balance is two people finding out that a load gets lighter when someone helps you carry it, & that trust gets built one wobbly step at a time, usually on top of a beer keg. If people leave laughing, a little moved & maybe thinking of the person who’s always caught them, that would make our day.
https://www.voilafestival.co.uk/events/balance-contemporary-circus-show-by-ich-duo/
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