The New Vic and award-winning circus company Upswing will begin an annual programme of work fusing contemporary circus with theatre this year, as they develop their longstanding relationship aiming to push the boundaries of the combined artform.

Highlights from the first year of the programme will include:

• Site specific performances of Upswing’s Circus Flavours for audiences and participants of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent.
• A new production of the critically-acclaimed Astley’s Astounding Adventures– one of the New Vic’s most successful shows about ‘father of the modern circus’ Philip Astley.
• Two circus skills summer schools, widening access to cultural opportunities for communities, including young people at risk of exclusion.

The partnership programme, made possible as part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) funding, will see the two organisations further develop their creative collaborations, which began in 2009 with Bryony Lavery’s The Wicked Lady. Building on the work of the New Vic’s Circus Past, Present and Future celebrations in 2018, this ambitious partnership aims to bring circus home – to Newcastle-under-Lyme, where Philip Astley, father of the modern circus was born – and widen access to a greater range of cultural opportunities through circus-theatre work, for audiences and participants in the local area and beyond. …link to full length article at Theater Weekly.