Tragic Greek tale to play out in Stanley Park

The world of Greek legend will be brought to life in a new circus performance set for Stanley Park.
Scene from DEPART, a spectacular spellbinding show from internationally acclaimed Australian circus artists, Circa, will be coming to Stanley Park, Blackpool, 1st-4th June 2017Scene from DEPART, a spectacular spellbinding show from internationally acclaimed Australian circus artists, Circa, will be coming to Stanley Park, Blackpool, 1st-4th June 2017
Scene from DEPART, a spectacular spellbinding show from internationally acclaimed Australian circus artists, Circa, will be coming to Stanley Park, Blackpool, 1st-4th June 2017

Hailed as a ‘spectacular spellbinding show’ which will mix circus with dance ‘like you have never seen before’, DEPART is inspired by the tragic ancient love story of Orpheus and Eurydice, and will mix dance with circus throughout the park.

Set in the fading light of midsummer’s dusk, circus artists will dance over people’s heads, making the most of the park’s ‘vast spaces, iconic features and intimate wooded areas’ and ‘transforming one of Blackpool’s most beautiful public spaces into the underworld’.

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The show is produced by internationally-acclaimed Australian circus company Circa and is being brought to Blackpool by LeftCoast on June 1 to 4.

A scene from DEPARTA scene from DEPART
A scene from DEPART

Blackpool is the final destination in this sell-out tour and community choirs and dancers from the Fylde coast will be called on to join the performance.

LeftCoast artistic director Michael Trainor said: “Circa is the most consistently brilliant contemporary circus company and is actually my own personal favourite.

“Normally you would have to go to a major city or international festival to see them so to have them on our doorstep in Stanley Park is an absolutely fantastic opportunity not to be missed.”

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Blackpool is the last destination in the company’s tour and will take over the Park for four days, displaying ‘extraordinary feats of physicality as they guide you through the space between life and death in this astonishing visual feast.’

Scene from DEPART, a spectacular spellbinding show from internationally acclaimed Australian circus artists, Circa, will be coming to Stanley Park, Blackpool, 1st-4th June 2017Scene from DEPART, a spectacular spellbinding show from internationally acclaimed Australian circus artists, Circa, will be coming to Stanley Park, Blackpool, 1st-4th June 2017
Scene from DEPART, a spectacular spellbinding show from internationally acclaimed Australian circus artists, Circa, will be coming to Stanley Park, Blackpool, 1st-4th June 2017

Led by Australian Yaron Lifschitz with a creative team including the electronic music legend Lapalux, DEPART brings together acrobats, aerialists, video artists and Fylde Coast community choirs and dancers.

On a recent visit to Blackpool Yaron said he was looking forward to setting the show in Stanley Park.

“Blackpool has such a large entertainment context and it will be really interesting to ask the audience to come and see a show in a different way than they are perhaps used to,” he said. 
“This will be the fourth place that the show will be performed and it is really great to be able to deliver this in a new and powerful way that this extraordinary site allows me to.

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“Blackpool is proving to be the place I can make the show I always wanted to make!”

A scene from DEPARTA scene from DEPART
A scene from DEPART

DEPART was originally created for London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) last year, having been commissioned by the festival and LeftCoast among others, and was staged in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

LIFT artistic director Mark Ball said the performance had been a highlight of the festival, adding: “I’m delighted that we’re now able to share Circa’s epic and emotionally-charged show with audiences across the country, bringing an array of exceptional circus artists, composers, choral arrangers and singers and dancers together to create a spine-tingling piece of work.”

• Tickets are on sale now, from £10, online at www.leftcoast.org.uk/buytickets or the Grand Theatre box office on 01253 743344.

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