Duck Pond
HOTA and Circa Present
Fri 6 - Sat 7 Mar 2026
Duck Pond
Feathers will fly in Circa's exuberant take on Swan Lake.
The world's most romantic ballet is re-imagined as a circus spectacular, full of Circa’s signature physicality and shot through with cheeky humour and a thoroughly contemporary energy.
Be swept away by this tale of swans and hapless princes sparkling with quirky touches like the sequinned flipper-wearing duck army and a burlesque black swan. There are sumptuous aerials, jaw-dropping acrobatics and of course feathers! Touching, funny and utterly entertaining, Duck Pond is a tale of identity and finding your true self.
Duck Pond is co-commissioned by QPAC and The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, The Art House Wyong, Frankston Arts Centre, HOTA - Home of the Arts, Merrigong Theatre Company and Orange Civic Theatre.
★★★★ “Graceful aerial solos. Jaw dropping lifts. Superhuman balances. Swan Lake as you’ve never seen it before” – THE TIMES
★★★★⯪ “Duck Pond may just be one of the most exhilarating and thought-provoking shows you will see this year” - ARTSHUB
Image Credit: Damien Bredberg
Child $39
Senior $49
Student $39
A $4 transaction fee will apply for e ticket delivery purchases (excluding free events + donations).For Hold at Box Office ticket delivery purchases, a $6 fee will apply.Please view full Terms and Conditions prior to purchasing your tickets.
Director, Stage Design - Yaron Lifschitz
Composer and Sound Designer - Jethro Woodward
Costume Designer - Libby McDonnell
Lighting Designer - Alexander Berlage
Associate Director - Marty Evans
Dramaturg/Associate Choreographer - Rani Luther
Voice Over Artist - Elise Greig
Photo: Pia Johnson
Photo: Pia Johnson
Photo: Pia Johnson
Photo: Pia Johnson
Photo: Pia Johnson
#Awards
- 2025 The Besties: The Collaboration Award – Opera Queensland and Circa: Orpheus and Eurydice at Edinburgh International Festival
2025 Matilda Award for Best Circus or Physical Theatre Work: Dido and Aeneas
2023 Seoul Arts Awards: Circa's Peepshow (Club Remix)
2023 Lord Mayors Business Awards – CISCO International Business Award
2022 Broadway Baby Bobby Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Humans 2.0
#Bios
Yaron Lifschitz - Director
Yaron Lifschitz makes shows. Big ones, small ones, and ones that defy easy categorisation. He’s created strange, beautiful things in tents, concert halls, spiegeltents, and opera houses as well as cemeteries and cathedrals.
More than 80 of his productions have toured across six continents picking up a shelf’s worth of awards including six Helpmanns and the Australia Council Theatre Award.
Yaron has taught directing at NIDA and directed opera, concerts and major events. In 2018 he was Creative Lead of Festival 2018, the cultural program of the 21st Commonwealth Games - one of the most ambitious arts events in Queensland’s history.
At the heart of Yaron’s work is restless curiosity and a fierce belief in the power of performance to connect and transform.
Jethro Woodward – Composer & Sound Designer
Jethro Woodward is a Melbourne-based composer, musical director, arranger, musician and sound designer recognised for his expansive and highly layered film, theatre and dance scores.
A multi Green Room Award winner and Helpmann nominee, he has worked with some of Australia’s leading major and independent companies including; Malthouse Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Victoria and more.
A composition graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts, Jethro draws upon his detailed understanding of contemporary music and its uses in live performance, including innovative uses of technology, combining live instrumentation with prerecorded, electronic, musical and sound elements into a seamless flexible and responsive score.
Libby McDonnell – Costume Designer
Libby McDonnell is a designer, director, and creative lead. As Head of Engagement and Design at Circa, she has designed costumes for over 40 productions, co-directed major works, and led key community programs, including the pilot of Circability.
Libby holds a First Class Honours degree from Queensland College of Art and an Associate Degree in Dance from QUT.
Her career has moved fluidly between performance, education, touring, and leadership. Libby is known for her clear eye and unwavering belief in the power of art to connect.
Alexander Berlage – Lighting Designer
Alexander Berlage is an award-winning director and lighting designer. He is co-artistic director of the Old Fitz Theatre. Alexander has won the Sydney Theatre Award Best Direction of a Musical for the past two years in a row.
As a lighting designer, Alexander has worked for Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Queensland, Circa, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sydney Chamber Opera, Sydney Dance Company and more.
His productions have been nominated for dozens of Sydney Theatre awards, including his sold-out production of American Psycho and Cry-Baby, which he directed at Hayes Theatre Co.
Alexander holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Production) and a Master of Fine Art (Directing) from the National Institute for Dramatic Art, Sydney. In 2019, Alexander was awarded a Mike Walsh Fellowship.
Rani Luther – Dramaturg/Associate Choreographer
Rani’s professional dance career began with the Kiel Ballet Company Germany in 1995 before moving to dance with world-renowned Netherlands Dance Theatre. In 2003 she returned home to dance with The Australian Ballet Company for four years, joined Sydney Dance Company in 2007 and retired from stage as a principal dancer with Melbourne Ballet Company in 2011.
Rani received a nomination for best female dancer in the Green Room Award 2006 for her roles in Relic and Jiri with The Australian Ballet Company.
She has produced, curated and choreographed numerous productions, including works for Queensland Ballet and the Australian Ballet Company, and the Secret Lives of Costumes exhibition in collaboration with Griffith University QAC.
Rani was appointed Ballet Mistress and Creative Associate for Queensland Ballet in 2012 and in Creative Associate for Queensland Ballet and Thomas Dixon Centre in 2022.
Marty Evans – Associate Director
Marty Evans came to circus by a more roundabout route than most. Marty left behind his published scientific career at Australia’s only nuclear reactor to embrace his physical sports background and pursue a career in circus, training at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne.
Marty is a fiercely determined and hardworking hand-to-hand base that enjoys exploring new challenges and techniques. It was at NICA that Marty first came across Circa and was inspired by the combination of artistic and physical excellence. Marty joined the Circa Ensemble full time in 2015 and has been involved in the creation of numerous Circa productions since. In 2023 Marty completed a Masters in Arts and Cultural Management and in 2024 he took up the role of Executive Officer at Circa.
#Acknowledgements
Circa acknowledges the assistance of the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
Circa is based in Meanjin (Brisbane) on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbal people. We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the many lands on which we create and perform. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
Always was. Always will be.
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