THE Flying Fruit Fly Circus will premiere its latest production in Wodonga as part of a new deal with the city’s council to boost The Cube entertainment centre.
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Junk, which is based on childhoods of the 1940s, will debut on September 16, with two performances the following day.
The circus’ executive director and producer Richard Hull said there had been some criticism of the group’s recent works being launched at the Sydney Opera House rather than on the Border.
Mr Hull said he accepted it as a “fair comment” and was pleased the circus had signed a memorandum of understanding with Wodonga Council for Junk’s premiere.
“This organisation grew out of the community here in Albury-Wodonga and it’s really important that we maintain those strong community ties.” Mr Hull said.
“We’re all really pleased that we’ve got this new partnership and can premiere this circus production for the local community.”
The opening will be a fillip for The Cube, which opened in 2012 and whose recent annual losses have been around the $500,000 mark.
Mr Hull said the Fruit Flies had provided feedback for the design of The Cube with rigging points and the height of the peforming area “perfect” for circus productions.
Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie was thrilled at the prospect of collaborating with the Fruities.
“The Cube Wodonga is extremely excited to be partnering with the Flying Fruit Fly Circus for this project and future endeavours.
“We are proud to have the opportunity to showcase our local talent through high quality performances for the community. The Flying Fruit Fly Circus is an amazing asset to the region and we are honoured to be hosting the premiere of Junk.”
The production is the Fruit Flies’ first since Circus Under My Bed and has been assisted by the childhood memories of residents at a Wodonga aged care village.
“We’ve been working on this for a year and a half and one of the things we did to get information was to research ideas at Westmont Aged Care,” Mr Hull said.
“We spoke to residents about how they remembered their childhood in the 1940s and what kind of play they did and it was interesting to compare it to today with young people having an iPad and an iPhone and multichannel television with Netflix and so on.
“We’re sort of looking at the question of do we over protect our kids – are we able to let them play and find their own adventures or are we too prescriptive?”
Junk opens 6.30pm on Friday September 16 with 3pm and 6.30pm next day shows.
For tickets see thecubewodonga.com.au or phone (02) 6022 9311.
