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Birdhouse Factory earns "little jumping man" rating from SF Chronicle!

"Pickle Circus soars to new heights in splendid 'Birdhouse Factory'"
By Robert Hurwitt, Chronicle Theater Critic,
SF Chronicle 12/17/04

The workers lined up outside the factory gates shiver and huddle in their coats against the cold. Once inside, though, they become assembly lines of acrobatic tumblers and roll off a large wooden spool like remarkably animate products. You've never seen an industrial complex like the one in "Birdhouse Factory." You've never seen a circus quite like the one that opened Wednesday at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, either.

Juggling, tumbling, contortions, the vertical pole and the aerial hoop -- the acts sound familiar enough, but they've never been packaged like this before. Not like the balletic contortionist Liao Heng Juan rotating on a trampoline driven by unicyclists or the man inside the rolling wheel controlling the lithe Aloysia Gavre's aerial hoop. Or the breathtaking, not to mention steamy, tango danced, climbed and plummeted up and down the vertical pole.
Part of the genius of director Chris Lashua's factory concept is in the way he transforms circus rigging into integral parts of the acts; part is in the inventive humor with which the performers become Rube Goldberg-like machines. The beauty of "Birdhouse," though, lies in the generosity with which acts are layered upon each other and the superb integration of circus skills with music, light and choreography. And the glory of the Pickle Circus holiday production is in the excellence of its performers.

The show is a kind of 30th anniversary tribute to the Pickle Family Circus, which reinvented the art form and inspired the new circus movement in the '70s. Now in its third incarnation (after some years as the New Pickle Circus), and a project of the Circus Center (under the artistic directorship of Lu Yi), the Pickle Circus is reaping the rewards of the movement it inspired. Lashua and most of the other performers have been featured artists with Cirque du Soleil and other latter-day circuses.

The action erupts in enchanting profusion as soon as the imposing, birdcage-framed steel gates open on Sean Riley's beguilingly skewed factory set with its huge metal gears, odd assembly lines and rows of warehouse windows. Tall, grungy Aiden O'Shea unrolls from the spool and leads an ensemble of agile acrobats tumbling and back-flipping to fall in a long line to Cody Westheimer and Julia Newman's jazzy-industrial score. Gavre and Sandra Feusi's choreography brings the explosion of acrobatics to a quirky, Fosse- like climax.

A solid, imposing Steven Ragatz, the boss, looking like an outtake from Magritte in his long black coat and bowler hat (the clever costumes are by Gavre), deftly juggles a red ball with his briefcase, hat and cane. And that's just the beginning of a riveting and humorously understated act that includes balletic Michael Moschen-like manipulations, impressive head- and -- yes -- ear-juggling and no less than five balls (and that hat). Not to mention his delightful, Chaplin-esque work with birdhouses coming off an assembly line.

Liao, the impressive 16-year-old contortionist of the first act, returns in the second for a cleverly conceived and delightfully executed "Pagoda Bowls" routine with the nimble acrobats Zheng Wen Xuan and Zheng Ming Xuan -- who, like Liao, are members of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe. As one or the other of the Zheng twins maneuvers gracefully beneath her, supporting her with one or both hands, Liao executes impressive handstands while balancing porcelain bowls on her head and feet.
Gavre's captivating aerial hoop acrobatics are enhanced by the view of Lashua rolling a giant wheel to raise or lower the hoop. Feusi and Sam Payne - - who co-directed with Lashua, Gavre and musical director Rex Camphuis -- bring down the house with their suave, sexy and astonishing "Vertical Tango." Olga Kosova and Philip Rosenberg add depth with some deft acrobatics. The agonizingly flexible Fritz Grobe is quietly hilarious in a struggle with a coat hanger.

As beautifully designed as the show is and as engagingly upholstered in the upbeat soundscape and Heather Basarab's painterly lights, "Birdhouse" excels at supporting and showcasing its circus acts. And the acts are terrific.
- Robert Hurwitt, Chronicle Theater Critic

"New Pickle Circus skips the animal acts
and the nouveau" SF Weekly 12/15/04



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Press Archive

Reviews of Circumstance 2002
•"Pickles are a perfect holiday dish" SF Chronicle, 12/19/02
•"An exhilarating 'Circumstance' " SF Examiner, 12/20/ 2002
•"Pickle Circus grows up with compelling 'Circumstance'" Oakland Tribune, 12/20/02
•"New Pickle Circus a barrel full of fun" Contra Costa Times, 12/21/02

And a wonderful article about the Circus School:
"Circus school wants to soar even higher" SF Chronicle 12/120/02

Magazines

• Sunset, 09/00
• Callboard,12/00
• Fast Company, 12/99
• Spectacle
• Harper's Bazaar
• American Girl
• Navigator
• Hemispheres

Newspaper Articles

•Merced Sun Star, Youth in Circus, 7/19/02
• SF Weekly, Beyond Bozo, 11/26/01
• San Francisco Chronicle, 01/13/98
• San Francisco Examiner
• San Francicso Bay Guardian, 01/08/97
• Marin Independent Journal, 04/10/96
• Financial Times
• Frontlines