Duck Pond - Edinburgh Festival Theatre ★★★★★

Since 2004, internationally acclaimed Australian company Circa Contemporary Circus has dazzled audiences with its shows. CEO and artistic director of Circa, Yaron Lifshitz, has worked across circus, opera, physical theatre, and theatre. This is evident in Circa’s productions. Duck Pond merges the tales of Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling, retold through the medium of modern dance and contemporary circus. From its Australian premiere in 2023, and its international premiere in Abu Dhabi in 2024, “Duck Pond” has travelled all over the world and is certainly worth taking a beak at.

Duck Pond is phenomenal. There are stunts and slapstick comedy. The ensemble interact with a comfortable ease and trust which can only come from hours of familiarity. Their smiles invoke a sense of wonder and awe at what their team can achieve. To simply call them incredibly talented would be a disservice to the years of training and hours of rehearsing that must have been undertaken to hone their gymnastic ability and prepare for this show. They push the limits of the human body with astounding elegance, launching themselves and each other through the air. They demonstrate their strength and flexibility by holding themselves and others in the most unbalanced positions. They are either working with physics or defying physics. They are graceful, but they also waddle. On occasion, they quack. Not satisfied with a range of mind-boggling acrobatics, they also use aerial silks, aerial straps, an aerial hoop, hooping, and a diabolo. The silks are cleverly used as both a tool and a background prop. Circa’s ensemble is certainly not winging it.

Composer and sound designer Jethro Woodward’s music flirts with familiarity, hinting at Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, but adding his own twist and modern beats. He uses numerous other sounds and effects to skillfully play with the audience’s emotions.

The story makes more sense when one has read the synopsis, though that is not necessary to be thrilled by this circus spectacular. The romantic plotline’s twist is heartwarming, albeit resulting in an overly dramatic response from the shunned partner before they rejoin the flock, without much explanation of that character arc. One of the final scenes, in which the audience is packing up the show, is hilarious but continues for a bit too long, especially when considering that there is still more to come. Regardless, Duck Pond is a bundle of fun, and the storyline is less important than the spectacle. Expect anything, including feathers, gold sequined flippers, and mops.