Shana Carroll is co-foundr and artistic director of the Canadian company "7 Fingers". The company's slogan "telling human stories with superhuman skills" describes her approach in creating circus shows. Her show "Duel Reality" is being performed in Germany tis winter. I had a conversation with her.
Daniel Burow: The 7 Fingers show “Duel Reality” is being performed at the Tollwood Festival in Munich this year. It is an interpretation of “Romeo and Juliet”. Why was it time to tell this famous story using the means of the circus?
Shana Carroll: The first version of “Duel Reality” was created in 2018 under the impression of the polarization that I experience in the world. People often think it is the most classic love story, but in many ways it is the most classic war story, because it is about the rivalry between two families and how the love between two children is enough to destroy everything.
So, it is about polarization and I liked the idea of staging it like a sporting event, as a football game with competing teams. That way the viewer is involved in a way that lets them feel the joy of having a tribe, a team, and hating someone else in the way that sports fans might feel. There's a twist when we realise there's potential for tragedy and what polarisation can do. I like that by treating it as a sporting event, the audience becomes more complicit.
Also, circus is our language and I often look for what themes are best suited to the circus language. We have the athletic side, we can tell the story of a sporting event in a very physical way. Also, there's a lot at stake in Romeo and Juliet, like there is often in Shakespeare - life or death, love and passion. And circus is a great language to show something like that because there's a lot at stake, literally. There's risk, people are upside down, flying through the air. I think we live in a time where there's a lot at stake in many ways. That's why it felt relevant.
Daniel Burow: You've done circus shows on quite unusual themes like trains or cooking. What makes a story suitable to tell through the medium of circus?
Shana Carroll: First of all, I always have to find something that I'm passionate about. Whenever you do a show, you should feel that you must tell that story. The show about cooking was something I co-directed with my husband and he’s just extremely passionate about food and cooking. When we were trying to come up with an idea for the show, we were in the kitchen and I said “look, this is the thing you spend all your time doing. Let's find a way.” It wasn't just cooking, it was about how food tells the story of our lives, how our lives unfold in the kitchen, through food and memories of it.
It was the same with trains. I had a moment where I realized that all the powerful moments in my life happened on trains. I saw the symbolism of departure and moving on. It was a vehicle to tell bigger stories. “Romeo and Juliet” seems very different from trains or cooking, but it was the same kind of process. And with each of our shows, there's a connection that makes me think circus is the best language to tell the story. Whether it's the community, or showing how connected we are when we work acrobatically in an ensemble, when we all catch and throw each other. The show “Cuisine & Confessions” had a lot to do with family and community and the language of circus was key to telling that story.
Daniel Burow: Duel Reality was originally produced to be performed on cruise ships. How did that influence the creation?
Shana Carroll: We had never thought about doing a cruise ship show before. But this particular cruise line, Virgin, was brand new and they really wanted to do something different, something avantgarde with artistic integrity. That attracted us. We felt we could invest ourselves with our souls.
What was different? First of all, as producers, they structured our timeline. So, the show was created in lots of little workshops - two weeks here, two weeks there - whereas our shows usually take four months of continuous creation. I had a sketch that I kept coming back to and filling in more and more colour. It was a very different process. Sometimes that was good. When you have long creations, sometimes you think about it too much, change your mind, get lost. On the other hand, it wasn't the same depth of research that we would do for our own show.
In terms of the audience: on the one hand I liked the opportunity to surprise the audiences, touch them in a way they do not expect on a cruise ship and sort of defy what a usual cruise ship show would be. But at the same time, I was aware that it must have a certain pacing, a certain rhythm. People would be drinking alcohol, and they are on their vacation and did not pay for the show. In a way the show much more just moves. In our other shows there are more moments of contemplation and choreography and dialogs. But I have learned that this works with the show conceptually, because of what I was saying about the stakes, the energy. We want it to feel like it is constantly pulled on this sling shot from one emotion to the next, that the tension never drops.
For sure it changed my rhythm of creating a show, knowing it would be originally for that audience. That said, when we took it on land, we did extend certain acts, we had more Shakespeare text in it. We tried to spread it out a little more and not keep it at this fast pace.
Daniel Burow: Did you experience that the audience reactions in the different settings were different?
Shana Carroll: Yes, definitely. On land it has more production value. We have a video projection, better lighting and sound. In this way it is a richer experience. But with the audiences on the ship it’s sometimes more fun. They are on vacation, partying, they are really vocal. The show is about a competition and we get the audience cheer along. When we first went into a traditional theatre, it was hard. But in the more tender moments we feel that in the theatre people are more receptive to something more moving.
Daniel Burow: You were also involved in the creative team of the musical “Water for Elephants”, bringing the traditional circus world on the Broadway stage. What are your experiences?
Shana Carroll: In a Broadway show, circus is just one tool among many to tell the story. They sing, they dance, there is dialogue, everything is there to tell the story. So you have to think of when do we really need a circus moment. So as opposed to having a six-minute hand balancing act, we would have one trick in a choreography, just to enhance that moment. They often say on Broadway that you speak until you need to sing and you sing until you need to dance. And I feel in our case we dance until we need to fly. You need to earn it; you need to have an emotional moment so high that the only thing you could do is tell it through circus.
In our normal context, everything is circus, you do not have to think whether this moment earns it. That is the main thing. It was hard for me because I have a circus imagination. There were a lot of moments where I thought that of course it is going to be told through circus. But my collaborators, theatre people, say “no, no, no, circus here is too much, it is too distracting”. They say watching someone standing on one hand while you are supposed to watch the main character sing is taking away our love for the main character. It needed a lot of restraint.
Daniel Burow: I guess you had been able to relate to the story of “Water for Elephants” quite well because you also had your “run away and join the circus” moment in life…
Shana Carroll: Exactly, that was one reason to do the show. I connected so much to the story.
Daniel Burow: How was your personal way from being a performer into creating circus shows?
Shana Carroll: When we founded the company, I was 32 and I still performed for another five years. So, I only stopped performing when I was 38, which is quite late for a trapeze artist. One of the reasons for starting the company was that I wanted to continue performing. I wanted it to overlap, not to stop performing and then be a director. For me, the only way to do that was to start my own company. From when I was very young, creation interested me, and I was always trying to be involved. When I was on tour with Cirque du Soleil, I was dance captain and worked on the choreography. In my circus school I asked if I could be assistant of the director of the shows so I could learn there. From the time when I was 18, I was always nurturing that side. When I started directing shows, I felt like I have already been doing this for 15 years, just in little ways.
In the moment I knew that that was what I wanted to do but I was still working as a performer at Cirque du Soleil, I did not feel like I could just knock on the door and say “OK, now hire me as a creator”. It is hard, you have to proof yourself. That is why I thought the only way to do it was to start my own thing and not to be dependent on convincing someone else.
Daniel Burow: Leaving the established structures of Cirque du Soleil to start something on your own must have been a big adventure. How did you manage this transition?
Shana Carroll: I was on touring shows with Cirque du Soleil basically through all my twenties. Honestly, the biggest change was that I needed to wash my own dishes. You realize you have been taken care of; it is like becoming an adult so late. This was harder than the work side of it. But there was something really exhilarating. When I was 30 and I was on my own, it felt like I graduated into the real world, like the ceiling came of my life. Anything was possible and I was my own boss.
The lack of security hit me a few years later. Because at first, all of us had our savings, we did not have children or a house. After a few years of investing in your own company and buying your own house and having a kid, suddenly you realize you have to make it work and run a company. That part of it was scary. But for sure, artistically it was so exciting to be able to design something yourself, whether it was the show or the program or the website. To use your brain in a way you have not used it for so long because you have been someone else’s employee.
Daniel Burow: Traditionally, circus is very much about this feeling of adventure. And you have also talked about the adventures of founding your company. Nowadays in contemporary circus, I sometimes have the feeling that this rough and adventurous nature is on the decline. It is not so much about “anything is possible” but rather like everything as to fit to certain funding criteria. Do you share the fear that this circus genre is at risk to lose some of its spirit?
Shana Carroll: There was new ground that we were forging. That is an incredible moment but once it has been forged, you certainly cannot pretend it has not. It is hard to go backwards in that way. And in a way it is great that contemporary circus has evolved and grown so much. But that by definition means that there is less blue sky.
About funding: When we started our own company, we were the only ones. It was easy for them to think like “oh, that sounds cool”. But now, because there are so many companies, you must give yourself an extra special mission and concept. It is funny because I think we still have a long way to go to educate the people who are giving the grants in terms of understanding the potential of circus as an art form. And at the same time, I want us as creators to just go back and find the joy and adventurousness and not get too much in our heads. I feel that we have lost a little bit the sense of play. When the movement was at its height, there was so much fun and joy that made the creativity. Creativity comes from the play. When the criteria are stricter, the competition is stronger and the funding is less, then actually you get more serious about it and that does not help the creativity. It becomes a vicious circle.
Daniel Burow: Germany has a strong Varieté and classical circus culture. But contemporary forms of circus are often regarded as underdeveloped compared to other countries. How is the German audience for contemporary circus?
Shana Carroll: I like Germany. I spent a lot of time in my life in Germany when I was touring with Cirque du Soleil with Saltimbanco. German audience has the reputation of being a little more serious. But I find they are very educated when it comes to contemporary circus. You cannot compare it to France, but I think, maybe because of the cabaret culture, there is an openness to different forms of theatre in Germany that there is not necessarily in a lot of places. So, we are happy to be back.
The show "Duel Reality" of the company "7 Fingers" is being performed from december 17th till 22nd at the Tollwood festival in Munich: https://www.tollwood.de/veranstaltungen/2024/the-7-fingers-duel-reality/
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