Company 2’s acrobatic spectacle Sediment flips in to Fringe World

AT the age of eight, David Carberry went against his parents’ wishes and ran away from the circus.

The tantalising world of trapezes and tightropes was calling the wild young adventurist but he had other plans.

“I was a bit of a ratbag as a young kid – I had lots of energy and was always jumping out of trees and trying to do back flips,” the Brisbane performer said.

“My parents found out about the Flying Fruit Fly Circus School in Victoria (Australia’s only primary and secondary-level circus school) and when I was 10 they took me and my sister along to the audition. But I ran away from the audition because I didn’t want to leave my friends at the school I was attending at the time.

“My sister ended up joining and kept telling me about what they did there all through the year and finally I thought it sounded pretty cool. The next year I auditioned and joined, and circus is all I have done since.”

Carberry and fellow performer, Alice Muntz, present acrobatic spectacle, Sediment, at Fringe World later this month.

Presented by Carberry’s troupe, Company 2, the Helpmann nominated show won Best Circus at the 2016 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Inspired by text, it draws from Dostoyevsky’s classic 1864 existential novella, Notes from Underground.

“As soon as I read the book I felt that despite the fact it was written 150 years ago in Russia, it definitely had something about it that felt relevant today in terms of relating to everyone’s personal struggles and why we strive for the things we do and put ourselves through tough situations to try and give ourselves challenges,” Carberry said.

“All these things resonated with me, particularly with circus: choosing to do this as a lifestyle we put that struggle in front of people on stage every day.”

THE ESSENTIALS

What: Sediment

When: January 27-28, January 30-February 4, February 6-10 and February 12-16

Where: Big Top at The Pleasure Garden, Northbridge

Tickets: fringeworld.com.au