Brisbane’s Circa teams up with Shaun the Sheep creators

He’s starred on both the big and small screen, now Shaun the Sheep is set to take flight – literally – in a whole new format.

Australia used to ride on the sheep’s back, and Brisbane contemporary circus company Circa will do the same with its new creation Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show.

The globetrotting Brisbane outfit, based in Fortitude Valley, usually travels the world, but has been holed up at home during the pandemic and that has given them time to finish making this zany show.

It opens at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre in March with support from a number of government agencies.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will announce today that we are hosting the world premiere, a collaboration with the UK-based creators of the show, Aardman, also famous for Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit.

It’s up, up and away for Circa’s forthcoming production Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show which will have its world premiere in Brisbane in March

Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show will tour the world once restrictions ease.

The Premier said it would help boost the state’s cultural life and economy as the arts sector recovers.

“Shaun the sheep is a global phenomenon,” she said. “Circa is recognised as part of Australia’s network of major performing arts organisations and is well placed to take on an international collaboration of this scale.”

She said the State Government was supporting the show through a unique three-way partnership comprising investment from Screen Queensland, Arts Queensland and QPAC as presenting partner.

The Federal Government is also investing in it, and federal Member for Brisbane Trevor Evans said the collaboration would continue to build the city’s reputation as one of the world’s most significant circus cities.

A scene from the movie Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon.

“I’m very pleased the Morrison Government has lent its support to this new family focused production,” Mr Evans said.

From its base in Brisbane, Circa has toured the world and played in 40 countries to more than 1.5 million people. Aardman is an academy award-winning global animation success story and Shaun the Sheep is loved worldwide. Circa artistic director Yaron Lifschitz says the show will feature the usual elements of circus with a bit of extra fun.

Circa artistic director Yaron Lifschitz drilling his troupe. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

“Shaun the Sheep is a playful, rambunctious feast of humour, good spirits and the triumph of the little guy,” Lifschitz says.

“The medium of circus is a perfect vehicle for bringing these qualities to the stage.

“Melding the worlds of stage and screen and incorporating the extreme physicality of circus without losing the emotional depth and charm of the original is a major creative challenge, but it’s the sort of thing Circa thrives on.”

He said scenic designer Dan Potra and costume designer Libby McDonnell would create a new world for Shaun and his flock to inhabit “seamlessly blending the dimensions of animation, stage, film and live acrobatics”.

He won’t give too much else away about the show yet but did reveal that one of the sheep in the show would shear itself on stage to reveal its underwear.

Despite that burlesque twist he insists it will still be a family show.

Tickets are now on sale for Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show, Lyric Theatre, QPAC, from March 2