Crying Out Loud
Crying Out Loud are pioneering creative producers based in the UK, nurturing extraordinary artists working in visual theatre often in the fields of circus, physical theatre and installation since 2002.
They have worked with artists such as: James Thierrée’s Compagnie du Hanneton (France), Race Horse Company (Finland), Barely Methodical Troupe (UK) and Pirates of The Carabina (UK)
Circus Post
Circus Post is a series of short films made in 2014 by Crying Out Loud and film-maker Deborah May contextualising the development of contemporary circus over the past 40 years.
Here’s four of them to give you a taste – the others can be found on the Crying out Loud website and youtube Channel. (When you have some time up your sleeve I highly advise you to check them all out)
What is Circus?
What is Circus? is the first film in the series.
On the border between theatre and dance, between tradition and invention, we find something new – contemporary circus – a borderless, hybrid artform.
Petit Mal by Race Horse Company
Combining the skills of a breakdancer, a cage fighter, and an ex-gymnast (and chef), Race Horse Company attack circus with a sullen punk-rock attitude.
Their show Petit Mal, set amid the wreckage of a tire-yard / junk-pile / ended world, cuts their bruised, all-in physical style with a surreal edge: as the walls of reality come down, multiple Elvises propagate through the stage-world and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police meet Joy Division (probably for the first time).
Sat here among the giant tyres of their set, looked down on by the spry likeness of Scrooge McDuck (long story…), Petri Tuominen, Rauli Kosonen and Kalle Lehto talk about finding a sense of hope within a world of ruin, the impulse to laugh in the face of disaster, and the moments when gravity falls away – only to return with a crash.
CIRCUS IN THE MEDINA
Everyone in the Medina knows the Hammich family. From the oldest grandfather to the youngest granddaughter, the Hammichs are famous acrobats, trained from an early age in skills that have been preserved through seven generations.
Members of the family used to tour the world, performing acts in the great traditional circuses, but in 2003 their lives took an unexpected turn when they met the French circus director Aurélien Bory and resolved to collaborate on a new work. Combining their vernacular style of acrobatics with Bory’s exact vision for space, scale and transformation they made their first full-length show, Taoub.
Here we visit them at their home in Tangier, a shrine to the family’s wide-ranging achievements, and hear how Taoub was made, as well as how later work Chouf Ouchouf was inspired by the bustle, the colour, the rooftops and markets, the dangerous alleys, the swarming cats, and the incredible everyday stories of the Medina – the city’s bustling old quarter.
MANIFESTLY PHIA
The transgender artist and juggler Phia Ménard talks about the meaning of transformation and erosion in her work, about piecing together the puzzle of each performance, about putting herself in danger, and about the power of the circus artist to bring their audience in to a closer relationship with death.
I hope you enjoyed that little taste of this great series.
Check out more of Crying Out Loud at:
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And Deborah May at HERE
