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Melbourne, Australia’s Circus Oz is performing at New York’s New Victory Theater this holiday season! Featuring jaw-dropping stunts, slapstick comedy, live music, and a multi-generational cast, Circus Oz’s Merry Mayhem is an a circus spectaular for all ages!
BroadwayWorld spoke with Merry Mayhem star, Debra Batton, about her decades of performing with Circus Oz, what she loves most about performing for young audiences and families, and much more!
I love circus arts! Can you take me back to the very beginning of your circus journey? What first sparked your interest in circus, and how did that curiosity turn into a lifelong career?
It’s interesting, I was a gymnast from seven until 17, and then I started coaching gymnastics, and I kind of thought that was what I would do. And then I had a wonderful friend who was also a gymnastics coach, who gave me a provocation that he thought I should go back to university and study.
So, I did. And when I did that, I discovered the dance department at this university, and that was my beginning of a curiosity about the performing arts. And from there, I saw Circus Oz when I was in my early 20s and still at Uni, and I just thought it was the best thing I’d ever seen, I was really curious about it.
But it took me a while from there before I actually joined Circus Oz, I went off on a career of contemporary dance and physical theater, and I was really finding my way with, ‘What is my performance that really works for me?’ And eventually I found my way to Circus Oz, and I knew that this was right. I loved it. I did actually move away from Circus Oz and did theater, and directing, and then I came back. I love flying trapeze, it’s such a joy!
How did becoming a part of Circus Oz shape who you are as a performer?
It shaped me very much for a few different reasons, and in a few different ways. One is that at Circus Oz, you are very much expected to have your own agency as a performer. And to bring your interests and your style to the shows. And the directors work with who you are, and how you perform, as well as the individual adapting to what the requirements of the show are. And so, there is this beautiful sense, I’ve found, with Circus Oz, that my performer is attached to me as a whole person. And when I left Circus Oz and did my own directing, I imparted the same expectations onto the performers that I was working with.
When I came back to Circus Oz, I looked at work from both sides. Now I’m inside the work, working with a director who I absolutely love, who is also very demanding, but asking us to bring ourselves to the work.
For those who don’t know, what can audiences expect to see from this show?
You see a cast of seven performers and two musicians, who are all quite individual, and yet work together as this cohesive team, that love each other and have so much joy in being on stage doing circus together. And that just becomes infectious for the audience.
Already when you’re in a live show as an audience member, you’re very aware that you’re a part of something that’s shared with hundreds or thousands of other people. And when something death-defying is happening in front of you, it makes you even more connected as an audience member! It’s thrilling.
I think you’re right! And that’s the experience I feel that we’re receiving from the audience. We work in incredibly hard, and there’s a lot of concentration as well as joy and pleasure. We receive back from the audience this incredible energy that feels like it’s got both a gratitude, but also a desire to be with us. I soak that up and feel like it feeds me to give back more.
Circus is obviously physically demanding, and constantly evolving. After so many years in the industry, what keeps you excited about performing and returning to the stage?
It’s so fascinating. I love thinking about, ‘What is the next trick that I’m going to learn?’ and the learning of tricks is part of this thing that keeps you constantly striving for something new. I also find that while I’m trying to learn a new trick, my brain engages in a different way, and I see things differently because you’re constantly going back to being a beginner. And you have to have this open mind, and listen to people who might have more information than you, whether they’re older or younger, that doesn’t matter. And that makes me attend to the world with a freshness.
I feel like what circus does is quite magical through this idea that we’re always going, ‘What’s another trick I’m going to learn?’ and it might be on the flying trapeze, and it might be an acrobatic skill with another person. At the moment I’m obsessed with thinking about a new act for the next show that we’re going to make, and what is the solo act that I would like to do as a new act? So that feeling of thinking, and striving, and humility.
What can audiences expect to see you doing with Merry Mayhem in New York?
I do acrobatics, I’m the top of a three-high, I do flying trapeze, I do a death-defying stunt! They’re the main acts. I contribute to a knockabout, slapstick act. This show has some fabulous slapstick, it’s a real celebration of that incredibly old art form, from the vaudevillian times, and we’ve really tried to embrace the slapstick act in the show, and it’s a joy.
What would you say you love most about performing this particular show, especially for young audiences and families?
When families come to the show, we experience this beautiful ripple through the audience. Sometimes it’s children laughing at their parents laughing, and sometimes it’s parents laughing at their children laughing, and sometimes it’s just a spontaneous burst of laughter from all. And I just love that. I love the way the whole family can find different things in the show that really tickles their sense of humor. And also, people love the music. The music in the show works with every moment of the show. Every single nuance is tied in with the musicians, who perform live with us, and respond, and connect, to the acrobatics on stage. And I think the audiences feel this incredible sense of unity from the whole stage.
