Flying Fruit Fly Circus and Circus Centre Melbourne announce Under Construction Creative Residencies for 2026! We are thrilled to welcome 3 projects to the Flying Fruit Fly Circus in Albury and 4 to our new circus hub – Circus Centre Melbourne.
Under Construction Creative Residencies support exciting new work from a diverse range of artists supporting innovation and works at early stage development. Another round for the second half of 2026 will open early next year. Find out more about Under Construction.
The 2026 Under Construction (Jan to June) Residents are:
FLYING FRUIT FLY CIRCUS
Rooke Circus
The Water
A bold new work of narrative contemporary circus from Tasmania’s ROOKE. The Water explores our relationship to the sea alongside a study on overwhelm, busy work and the struggles of maintaining connection to the cycles of nature in a modern context. The Water follows ROOKE’s acclaimed work Wilds, in a four-part saga exploring urgent topics of climate crises and human social phenomena.
Featuring a core creative team including Freyja Wild, Conor Wild, Jake Silvestro, Bridie Hooper, Jenni Large, Louis Frere-Harvey and Nathan Maynard.
Find out more about Rooke Circus.
Jamie Bretman, Idris Stanton, Mike Finch
Poorly Executed
Poorly Executed is a darkly comic clown show for adults about two inmates facing death. Blending physical theatre, absurd humour and emotional depth, it’s a raw, ridiculous and moving meditation on mortality, fear and human connection. Laugh, squirm, reflect and maybe cry as the final act unfolds.
This project will be the first creative collaboration between these highly experienced artists – Jamie Bretman, Idris Stanbury and Mike Finch.
Leo Pentland, Alonso Pineda, Bridie Hooper
Ensemble Straps
A creative research development to explore the possibilities of an ensemble-based approach to the aerial straps discipline. This exploration will examine scale, rhythm, and collective physicality. It will focus on radically expanding the possibilities of what we know as a straps work. Creating fluid group movement in harmonisation with aerial straps performance.
The creative team includes Leopold Pentland, Bride Hooper and Alonso Pineda.
CIRCUS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Leisa Prowd, Emma J Hawkins
Exhibit
A theatrical collection of strange occurrences, absurdities of life, and laughter.
A 45–60-minute physical theatre piece that fuses elements of dance, circus, comedy, and song. It’s a celebration of the bizarre, the unexpected, and the things that make us human in all our weirdness.
This project teams Emma J Hawkins and Leisa Prowd with Susie Dee, Kyall Shanks, Dan West and Loom Management.
Tarn Scully, Jo Dunbar & Laura Moy
Precarious
Precarious is a contemporary circus development where The Chinese pole will be used as part of movement landscape exploring personal stories to reflect on identity, change, maternal mental health, and resilience.
The power of movement as an anchor through it all.
This is part 1 of a 3-part international collaboration between aerial movement creator Tarn Scully (lead artist), Jo Dunbar a Deaf identifying creator, and Laura Moy a neuro-divergent identifying artist from the UK.
Maggie Church-Kopp, Johnny Brown, Jason Renahan, Armani Francois
What Yet
What Yet is a radical call raging from Central Australia. An embodied warning driven by Cultural memory, and the fight for continuation.
Rooted in Arrernte creation stories and sign language, What Yet emerges from a place-based research process led by young First Nations artists.
With support from Na Djinang Circus, this residency will include artists Maggie Church-Kopp, Johnny Brown, Armani Francois and Carly Sheppard.
Caleb Hope, Ryan Hooper
Step 2 of 5
Caleb Hope and Ryan Hooper are two of Australia’s best young jugglers who want to push the boundaries of juggling with their technical skills and execute some exciting new ideas. Their project combines teamwork, skill and innovation with a modern take on duo juggling focused on new and interesting juggling techniques and a close understanding of each other’s strengths.
