Circus City

About

Circus City – the UK’s largest international programme of contemporary circus – will return to Bristol from Sunday 1 to Sunday 22 October 2023 with a city-wide festival of performance blending circus with music, film, theatre, dance and more. 

From mind-bending physical storytelling, spectacle and retellings of classical literature to pink punk gig-circus, research-driven performance-making to striking queer and neurodiverse and black-led solo shows. There are shows for young people and families with fire, music and mayhem and presentations of brand new work in the making alongside a programme of workshops, talks, films and industry events.

This year is The Outsider Edition as this constellation of shows explores a common thread of human-object relations, transformation and interventions into the way people, bodies and situations can be seen and navigated. Each presents an opportunity for a reimagining of the familiar, human, scientific, physical, seen in a new light, as if with the eyes of an outsider.               

Programme of events: 
These Things Aren't Mine - Gabbie Cook & Quiet Eye
Directed by Barney White, These Things Aren’t Mine is a performance film combining physical theatre, circus and dance.
Event dates: Sun 1st October
Venue: Dareshack

Sawdust Symphony
An intense dialogue between satisfaction, frustration and the smell of gasoline
Event dates: Wed 4th October - Thu 5th October
Venue: Unit 15

Tongue and Cheek, by Ruby and Charles
A night of fresh alternative comedy mixed with circus theatre.
Event dates: Thu 5th October
Venue: Circomedia

A Spectacle of Herself – Laura Murphy
A cinematic, [in]appropriately acrobatic ride through mental health, queerness, rage & the 21st Century space race.
Event dates: Fri 6th October - Sat 7th October
Venue: Arnolfini

Black Sheep By Livia Kojo Alour
Fusing physical theatre, spoken word and song, Black Sheep is the story of a queer Black woman finding love
Event dates: Fri 6th October - Sat 7th October
Venue: Circomedia

The Shape of Belonging
Let your heart soar amongst the mighty cathedral of the forest, with an evening of breathtaking aerial dance and euphoric choral performance
Event dates: Fri 6th October - Sun 8th October
Venue: Tortworth Arboretum

VOLT
VOLT: a scratch night of new work.
Event dates: Thu 12th October
Venue: Circomedia

Stickman, by Darragh McLoughlin
A man, a stick and a T.V.
Event dates: Fri 13th October - Sat 14th October
Venue: Circomedia

Ockham’s Razor/Turtle Key Arts present Tess
A groundbreaking circus adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
Event dates: Fri 13th October - Sun 15th October
Venue: Unit 15

Can’t Sit Still - Oh No George!
George sees something in the kitchen. It’s cake! I said I’d be good, George thinks, but I LOVE cake. What will George do?
Event dates: Sat 14th October - Sun 15th October
Venue: Redgrave Theatre

Iterations by Tom Cassani
On how placing a coin into a pocket can become a lifetime's work
Event dates: Thu 19th October
Venue: Circomedia

Noise Juice by MUOVIPUSSI
Grandmas, Barbies and growling metalheads melt together in an exciting mix of beauty, skill, comedy, and darkness.
Event dates: Thu 19th October - Fri 20th October
Venue: Unit 15

A Show of Hands by Tom Cassani
Using a Russian roulette style game, the audience decides the fate of Cassani’s hands…
Event dates: Fri 20th October
Venue: Circomedia

Marina Cherry - Only Bones V1.6
Marina Cherry squeaks, zooms, and tiptoes through a micro-space
Event dates: Fri 20th October - Sun 22nd October
Venue: The Wardrobe Theatre

Materia – Andrea Salustri
A choreography for several polystyrene shapes and one human.
Event dates: Sat 21st October - Sun 22nd October
Venue: 1532 Theatre

Tit for Tat present BOOKS!
Save the books! A joyful, hilarious adventure for all the family.
Event dates: Sat 21st October - Sun 22nd October
Venue: Unit 15

Circus City is a biennial event based in Bristol, UK. It is funded by Arts Council England, Foyle Foundation, Quartet and Performing Arts Fund NL