Casus Knee Deep - Brighton Festival · Casus Knee Deep Tue 14 — Fri 17 May 2013, ... Return Kronos Quartet 2 Domino Aphex Twin ... different parts of the world,

CasusKnee Deep

Tue 14 — Fri 17 May 2013, 7.30pmSat 18 May 2013, 2.30 and 7.30pmTheatre Royal Brighton

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BF010_2013KneeDeepAW:BF1 / LSO artwork 17/05/2013 12:51 Page 1

Casus

Performers Emma SerjeantJesse ScottLachlan McAulayNatano Fa’anana

Lighting design Rob ScottTechnical manager Clark Corby

Production photographs Sean Young, SYC Studios

Four performers explore the boundaries of strength and fragility. Bodies arepushed and pulled, weighed and tested; unlikely bonds are forged, and actsof intimacy cohabit space with thrilling physical feats.

Throughout this journey the artists reveal that delicacy does not necessarilyequate to fragility — though it is often a fine line they tread.

Knee Deep



1 Black Angels, movement III: Return Kronos Quartet

2 Domino Aphex Twin

3 Façades Sentieri Selvaggi

4 Sunday Night Just Keeps on Rolling Mum

5 Metrorail Thru Space Cut Chemist

6 New York is Killing Me Gil Scott-Heron

7 Quelqu’un m’a dit Carla Bruni

8 Two Mexican Dances for marimba David Hall

9 Dream a Little Dream Eddie Vedder

10 The Ballad of a Broken String Mum

11 Yesterdays Billie Holliday(Junior Boys remix)

12 In Loving Memory [edited] Modeselektor

13 Tapestry Stitches Patti Plinko and her Boy

14 Lost and Found Amon Tobin

15 Embers [edited] Max Richter

Song List





Arts Update (AU): Casus is not an obvious name for a circus group. Can you explain its origins and why you chose it?

Emma Serjeant (ES): ‘Casus’ is a Latin word that can mean ‘a culminationof circumstances’ or ‘a chance event’. Although its meaning may bedefined in a variety of ways, this is the one that rang true to the four of usmembers of the company. When we created the name we were all indifferent parts of the world, and we spent a lot of time online throwingnames at each other until one stuck. This was it!

AU: Although all four Casus members have been performing in circusfor some time now, Casus, as a performing arts company, is relativelynew. What brought you together as a group?

ES: Casus was formed late in 2011. We had been friends for some timeat that stage and were all interested in working together. The timing wasright for starting a new adventure, so we committed ourselves to making ithappen and put together the first show. Knee Deep came out of a three-week development period; since then we have realized that Casus issomething we all want to pursue.

We had no idea what kind of work we were going to make: if it wasgoing to be a failure or a success — or if we would still be friends by theend of the three weeks. Thankfully we found our groove and continue tolive the dream of creating work with our best friends.

AU: You’ve enjoyed great international success in a relatively short time;to what do you attribute this success?

ES: I think we have been tremendously lucky in getting our name knownquite quickly. Our international debut was last year at the Edinburgh FringeFestival, within 12 months of forming the company and creating KneeDeep. I attribute this to a relentless desire to be good at what we do andto putting in the work when it needs to be done. As a very small companywe all wear many hats, and if there is anything I’ve learnt from working inthe arts it’s that success doesn’t come knocking on your door: you need togo out and get it.

The art of challenge


AU: Brisbane seems to be taking on the mantle as Australia’s home ofcircus; why and how do you think this has developed?

ES: Brisbane has a very supportive circus community. There are a lot ofBrisbane-based companies who are influential and successful now, and Iput that down to the support we give each other, the openness of thecommunity and the lack of needing recognition or stature.

Everyone is doing their own thing with no rights or wrongs; there arewonderful role models in Brisbane and a great creative vibe. You don’treally move to Brisbane to be seen as an artist. I call Brisbane my homebecause the weather’s nice, you can train in the park and it’s a lovely placeto come home to.

AU: What is your vision as an arts company for the future? What areyour goals and dreams?

ES: Casus’s vision is to present circus on new platforms and to challengethe art form, each other and ourselves constantly. Circus has an incredibleability to connect with people and audiences. We all have the desire tokeep pushing the mould of what circus is and to keep asking the questionof ourselves, our audiences and each other.

We hope that our work is vibrant and interesting — and of course wewould not be a circus if we weren’t on the road, so touring is a big part ofour aspirations.

The other wonderful thing about circus is its ability to be a great socialtool. We all have strong cultural and community ties from our veryvarying backgrounds, so to be touring a successful show and involvingourselves in community projects all over the world would be pretty muchas good as it gets.

An edited version of an interview that appeared in Arts Update




Biographies

Emma Serjeant performerEmma Serjeant began her full-time circus training at the age of 20, graduating from the NationalInstitute of Circus Arts in 2006 after three years of study with Guang Rong Lu. She began her careeras a freelance soloist, performing throughout Australia in cabarets and events before launching herinternational career, focusing mainly on the skill of hand balancing. Passionate about community-based projects and artist-run spaces, she co-founded Hardy St Productions in Melbourne, a trainingand rehearsal space in which circus and visual artists can work together. She subsequently becamea full-time member of the circus ensemble Circa; during her three years with the company she touredthe world and played an integral role in the creation of new works. After leaving the ensemble as afull-time member, she spent a year as Head Trainer with Circa’s training centre and Youth CircusTroupe. She currently focuses on her roles as a performer and company manager with Casus andremains keenly interested in collaborations with other artists and art forms.

Jesse Scott performerJesse Scott has been involved with circus since before he could walk. A graduate of Flying FruitFly Circus, he spent 11 years training and touring with some of the world’s leading circus trainers.After graduating in 2004 he toured as a freelance performer, working with a variety ofcompanies, including Legs on the Wall, A4 Circus Ensemble, Candy Stripe Circus and AustralianOpera. He has also been closely involved with the Brewarrina Youth Circus and Flipside Circus.In 2008 he became a full-time ensemble member of the circus ensemble Circa, remaining withthe company for three years during which he toured internationally and performed at some of theworld’s most prestigious venues. His highlights with Circa include two seasons at the Barbican;appearances at La Tohu, Montreal; and headlining at the Montreal Circus Festival, the DublinTheatre Festival, the New York Skirball Centre for the Performing Arts, the Galway InternationalArts Festival and Sydney Opera House.

Lachlan McAulay performerLachlan McAulay began performing circus at the age of 13 with Flying Fruit Fly Circus, withwhich he trained, travelled and performed extensively around Australia. After graduating from theFlying Fruit Fly Circus in 2007, he worked as a freelance performer and circus trainer beforebeing invited to create a new work with Circa in 2008. As a full-time ensemble member ofCirca, he toured Australia and Europe, including appearances at the Galway Arts Festival andthe Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Now based in Brisbane, he performs with a variety of independentshows throughout Australia and Europe.

Natano Fa’anana performerNatano Fa’anana grew up in a Samoan family and did not pursue a career as a performer untilhe was 30. A member of Polytoxic Theatre Company, he is also the co-creator of and aperformer in Briefs: All Male Review, as well as with Casus. His approach to performing drawson his Polynesian routes, a style now widely recognized by circus practitioners. With broadexperience in circus skills, specializing mainly in aerials, he is also a trainer for the Brisbane-based companies Circa and Flipside Youth Circus. He has also been an arts worker for HumanVentures (formerly Speak Out), teaching circus skills, dance and music to children in some ofQueensland’s most remote indigenous communities.

Rob Scott lighting designRob Scott has worked in film production, building and construction, music and sound recording,photography, theatre, circus, graphic arts, education and business, as well as design. He hasbeen the operations manager at HotHouse Theatre since its inception in 1997 and has overseenthe building programme and technical development of the Butter Factory Theatre, Wodonga, aswell as transforming country venues into theatres for HotHouse’s annual regional touringprogramme. He is also a mentor on HotHouse’s Technical Training Programme. Highlights of his


work at HotHouse include designing the sets and lighting for Parallax Island, Confidentially Yours,The Messiah, Australia! The Show! and The Laramie Project; and designing the lighting forSecond Childhood, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Such a Storm, Wonderlands and Olleanna.His other credits include the lighting design for Flying Fruit Fly Circus’s Stagefright and A4 CircusEnsemble’s Downpour.

Clark Corby technical managerClark Corby first toured Australia with the indie pop band Yves Klein Blue, with which he travelledfor several years before working on shows at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane,including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Wicked and Mary Poppins.�He subsequently studiedtechnical production, specializing in lighting design and production management, at theQueensland University of Technology. He worked with Circa, the Brisbane Festival and TheHouse of Dancing Water, Macau, before joining Casus, where he oversees the completeproduction needs of the company.

CasusFormed in 2011, Casus comprises four members (Emma Serjeant, Jesse Scott, Natano Fa’ananaand Lachlan McAulay) who have previously performed extensively in Australia and internationallywith Circa, Legs on the Wall, Polytoxic and Briefs Collective. Knee Deep is the group’s first work,a fusion of traditional and contemporary circus techniques.

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Casus Knee Deep - Brighton Festival · Casus Knee Deep Tue 14 — Fri 17 May 2013, ... Return Kronos Quartet 2 Domino Aphex Twin ... different parts of the world,