Factory International Home

Welcome to Mossy Bottom Farm!

Shaun the Sheep's Circus Show is here... taking over Aviva Studios this winter!

About Circa

Circa is one of the world’s great performing arts companies. Since 2004, they have called Brisbane, Australia, home while touring the world, captivating audiences in over 45 countries and reaching more than two million people. Their award-winning performances have earned standing ovations, rave reviews and sold-out shows across six continents. Everything they do is fuelled by their core values: quality, audacity, humanity.

They are at the forefront of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus, redefining the art form by showcasing how extreme physicality can forge powerful and emotive experiences. They are relentless in the way they push boundaries, blending movement, dance, theatre and circus.

Under the visionary leadership of Yaron Lifschitz, and in collaboration with their extraordinary ensemble of circus artists, they craft a diverse array of productions that constitute “a revolution in the spectacle of circus” (Les Echos).

Each year they tour their shows across the world and premiere multiple new creations. They are a staple at prestigious festivals and venues in New York, London, Berlin and Montreal as well as throughout Queensland and across Australia.

Their extensive engagement programs, including Circa Academy, Circability and Circa Cairns (a First Nations-led circus initiative) provide access, participation and professional development outcomes. They have delivered major projects including the Creative Lead on the Commonwealth Games Festival 2018 and managing Artour for the Queensland Government.

They invite you to join them as they continue to “redraw the limits to which circus can aspire” (The Age).

Website / Facebook / Instagram

Circa acrobats performing on stage dressed as ducks and swans

Circa. Duck Pond. Photo by Pia Johnson.

About Aardman

Aardman is an employee-owned company, based in Bristol (UK) and co-founded in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. An independent, multi-Academy Award® and BAFTA® award winning studio, it produces feature films, series, advertising, games and interactive entertainment. Current animated productions include a seventh series of Shaun the Sheep and a third series of The Very Small Creatures.

Its productions are global in appeal, novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm reflecting the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the Aardman team. The studio’s work – which includes the creation of much-loved characters including Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time and Morph – is often imitated, and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning, comedic content for cinema, broadcasters, digital platforms and live experiences around the world. Recent celebrated projects include the brand-new Wallace & Gromit film Vengeance Most Fowl which premiered on BBC One on Christmas Day 2024 and was released on Netflix globally on the 3rd of January 2025. The BAFTA® nominated feature film Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Academy Award® nominated short film Robin Robin, International Emmy® award winning Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas, BAFTA® nominated preschool series The Very Small Creatures and the recent CGI comedy series for kids Lloyd of the Flies.  

The studio runs the Aardman Academy, its world-class training facility delivering excellence in film and animation training and mentoring for students around the world. The Aardman Academy offers a variety of courses from intensive one-day workshops to its flagship seven-month In-Studio Stop Motion course. All courses are delivered by industry-leading tutors and mentors with decades of experience. The Aardman Academy is an integral part of the business, representing the studio’s inclusive ethos and commitment to nurturing the animation talent of the future.

In November 2018, it became an Employee-Owned Organisation to ensure Aardman remains independent and to secure the creative legacy and culture of the company for many decades to come.

Website / Facebook / Instagram

Shaun the Sheep, Bitzer and Timmy outside Mossy Bottom Farm

Shaun the Sheep ©& AARDMAN ANIMATIONS LTD 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Explore content

Meet the Creative Team

Black and white headshot of Yaron Lifschitz holding his glasses and touching his eyes

Yaron Lifschitz

Director

Yaron Lifschitz makes shows. Big ones, small ones, and ones that defy easy categorisation. More than 80 productions have toured across six continents and played to over two million people picking up a shelf’s worth of awards including six Helpmanns, The ISPA Distinguished Artist Award and the Australia Council Theatre Award.

As CEO and Artistic Director of Circa he has brought circus to the Barbican, string quartets and acrobats to Brooklyn Academy of Music, four years of performances to Berlin and major shows to major festivals and venues around the world. He’s created strange, beautiful things in tents, concert halls, spiegeltents, and opera houses as well as cemeteries and cathedrals. His film work has appeared at the Berlin and Melbourne Film Festivals.

Yaron was the founding Director of the Australian Museum’s Theatre Unit, he has taught directing at NIDA and ATYP and has directed opera, concerts and events. In 1999 he was the first Artistic Director of Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus which, in 2004, he transformed into Circa. In 2018 he was Creative Lead of Festival 2018, the cultural program of the 21st Commonwealth Games - one of the most ambitious arts events in Queensland’s history.

At the heart of Yaron’s work is restless curiosity and a fierce belief in the power of performance to connect and transform. He describes his creations as "love letters to a species that not always easy to like".

Black and white headshot of Shaun Comerford wearing a blazer

Shaun Comerford

Producer 

Shaun (not the sheep) is an Executive Manager and Producer who has worked across all business functions in the arts, events and music industries with extensive experience in event production, relationship management, financial modelling and control, contracting, fundraising, investment, legal compliance, marketing and public relations.

From 2022 to 2014 as General Manager of theatrical producer, Newtheatricals, Shaun supervised the executive production of musicals and entertainment projects including Jersey Boys, The Addams Family and Rock of Ages. In 2015 as General Manager, Production for the Michael Cassel Group, Shaun oversaw launch of the 2016 Asia Tour of Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production of Les Misérables.

Prior to joining Circa, Shaun was Executive Director of Australian Dance Theatre and from 2017 – 2019, he was also  Vice President of Ausdance National, the peak body for dance in Australia.

Headshot of Dan Potra wearing a black shirt

Dan Potra

Scenic Designer

Dan is a NIDA-graduate designer across the full spectrum of the arts, designing sets, costumes, concepts and animation for opera, theatre, large scale events, dance and film. Dan has received six Helpmann Award nominations for his design work in opera and theatre in Australia.

International opera and theatre productions include The Portrait for Opera North and Opera de Lorraine, Cyrano de Bergerac for the National Theatre of Greece, Sweeney Todd at Southbank London, The Barber of Seville for Houston Grand Opera, A Streetcar Named Desire for St Gallen Opera in Switzerland, and Dracula for the Royal Swedish Opera. Dan designed the costumes and projections for the Global Creatures/Dreamworks US stage adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon.

Dan has designed many large scale sporting and cultural events, including segments in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and he designed the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2018 Gold Coast and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth. Dan also completed production design for the opening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.


Black and white headshot of Jethro Woodward

Jethro Woodward

Composer and Sound Designer

Jethro is a Melbourne-based composer, musical director, arranger, musician and sound designer recognised for his expansive and layered film, theatre and dance scores. A multi–Green Room Award winner and Helpmann nominee, he has worked with some of Australia’s leading major and independent companies including: Malthouse Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Victoria and more.

A composition graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts, Jethro draws upon his detailed understanding of contemporary  music and its uses in live performance, including innovative uses of technology, combining live instrumentation with pre-recorded, electronic, musical and sound elements into a seamless flexible and responsive score.

Jethro regularly tours his work internationally and has won Green Room Awards for his work on productions such as The Bloody Chamber (Malthouse Theatre), Moth (Malthouse Theatre/Arena Theatre), Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd (Malthouse Theatre/Arena Theatre) and Irony is Not Enough (Fragment 31). As a guitarist and singer, he regularly  performs with Meow Meow and Paul Capsis, and has been a member of the band Cordazine over the past 15 years.

Black and white headshot of Libby McDonnell smiling against a brick wall

Libby McDonnell

Costume Design

Libby McDonnell is a designer, director and creative lead. As Circa’s costume designer, she has created costumes  for over 40 productions, co-directed major works, and led key community programs, including the pilot of Circability.

Libby holds a First Class Honours degree from Queensland College of Art and an Associate Degree in Dance from QUT.

Her career has moved fluidly between performance, education, touring and leadership. Libby is known for her clear eye and unwavering belief in the power of art to connect.

Headshot of Craig Wilkinson wearing a red chequered shirt

Craig Wilkinson (Optikal Bloc)

Video Director 

Craig Wilkinson is Creative Director of the award-winning video projects collective OPTIKAL BLOC, which creates bespoke, visual-based live theatrical experiences and video marketing campaigns.

Craig’s video design work has toured across Australia and internationally, including Hong Kong, North America, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and UK. Most recent live performance video design works include the critically acclaimed Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox (shake & stir theatre co/QPAC), the Australian national tour of Green Day’s American Idiot (shake & stir theatre co/QPAC), and the recent international tour of one of Australia’s most successful theatrical exports, Dein Perry’s Tap Dogs (Broadway Entertainment Group).

Craig is a proud member of the Australian Production Design Build and is a seasonal lecturer in Live Performance  Video Design at QUT.

Black and white headshot of Jason Organ

Jason Organ

Lighting Designer

Jason graduated from Queensland University of Technology in 1988 and has had an extensive career as a Lighting Designer, Production Manager, Technician and Rigger. He has worked with companies such as Queensland Ballet, Queensland Theatre, La Boite, Kooemba djarra and festivals such as Out of the Box, Qld Music Festival and Brisbane Festival.

Jason was co-founder of JLX productions a Brisbane based lighting design and technical consultancy. Between 2010 and 2022 Jason worked exclusively with Circa as Technical Director, in this time he has helped deliver 20 new productions and toured 31 countries presenting Circa’s work. Jason is currently a Production manager for QPAC’s curatorial department.

Headshot of Alexander Berlage outside with a blurred background

Alexander Berlage

Associate Lighting Designer

Alexander Berlage is an award-winning director and lighting designer. He is co-artistic director of the Old Fitz Theatre. Alexander has won the Sydney Theatre Award Best Direction of a Musical for the past two years in a row – for AMERICAN PSYCHO and CRY-BABY at Hayes Theatre Co.

As a lighting designer, Alexander has worked for Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Queensland, Circa, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sydney Chamber Opera, Sydney Dance Company, Griffin Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, Hayes Theatre Co., Australian Theatre for Young People, and Redline Productions.

His smash-hit, sold-out production of AMERICAN PSYCHO won 9 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction of a Musical, Best Production of a Musical, and Best Lighting Design of an Independent Production and more. Alexander’s production of GLORIA was nominated for 2 Sydney Theatre Awards. Alexander’s production of CRY-BABY received rave reviews, sold out and won 4 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction of a Musical, and Best Production of a Musical. The same year, his productions of THERE WILL BE A CLIMAX, HOME INVASION and CRY-BABY received a combined total of 12 Sydney Theatre Award nominations.  For THERE WILL BE A CLIMAX, Alexander was nominated for Best Direction of an Independent Production and Best Independent Production.

Alexander’s directing work includes: DIARY OF ONE WHO DISAPPEARED, FUTURE REMAINS (with Sydney Festival), RESONANT BODIES (Sydney Chamber Opera); YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, AMERICAN PSYCHO, CRY-BABY (Hayes Theatre Co.); GLORIA (Outhouse Theatre Co); THERE WILL BE A CLIMAX (Redline Productions/NIDA); HOME INVASION (An Assorted Few/Old 505); and THE VAN DE MAAR PAPERS (An Assorted Few/PACT).

Alexander holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Production) and a Master of Fine Art (Directing) from the National Institute for Dramatic Art, Sydney.  In 2019, Alexander was awarded a Mike Walsh Fellowship.

Black and white headshot of Elise May stood against a brick wall

Elise May 

Associate Choreographer

Elise May is a nationally recognised dancer, choreographer and video artist whose career spans over two decades. She has worked internationally and in Australia as an independent artist and performer. Elise was invited to join Brisbane’s Expressions Dance Company (EDC) in 2008 and became Assistant Artistic Director to Natalie Weir. In 2012, she received the Australian Dance Award ‘Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer’, and was shortlisted for Helpman awards in 2015 and 2018. 

Elise’s 2016 QUT Master of Arts (Research) investigated the use of the moving image and digital media in live performance. Elise’s choreographic practice continues to investigate performance design, installation, site-specific and interdisciplinary contexts for dance and digital media. 

Elise was appointed Associate Lecturer in Dance at QUT in 2019 and was Choreographer-in-Residence with CIRCA in 2021, contributing to works such as Collider, a site-specific work for Scoop Festival at HOTA, Cube Studies in Santiago Chille for Festival Fundación Teatro a Mil / Santiago AMil, Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show in Brisbane, Melbourne, Cairns, Mackay and Wollongong, Australia, and assisted with the development of Peepshow and Maria De Buenos Aires in Lyon, France. Elise was also the choreographer for Opera Queensland’s production of The Marriage of Figaro directed by Patrick Nolan and re-staged for the West Australian Opera in 2021. 

In 2023 and 2024, Elise was involved in an arts-led recovery community arts project called Project Alchemy coordinated by Rebus Theatre (ACT) in the wake of the Black Summer Bushfires. Her Plastic Fantastic roving performance featured eight bespoke lantern-style wearable art costumes created entirely from post consumer recycled waste plastics, for River of Art’s Luminous: Celebrate Place Event, in Moruya, rural NSW. 

Meet the Flock

Black and white headshot of Asha Colless

Asha Colless

Flock, Pig

Growing up in Wollongong, Asha was introduced to circus at the age of six, taking classes at Circus Monoxide. Being in the air and flipping herself around quickly became her favourite thing to do, and this is where her love of performing came alive. At nineteen she decided to take her training further and study at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA), specialising in hula hoops and silks.

Asha also loves swimming at the beach, being in nature and a good book.

Black and white headshot of Maya Davies

Maya Davies

Flock, Pig

For as long as she can remember, Maya has always said “when I grow up, I want to join the circus”, and that’s exactly what she did. She grew up between Australia and the United States, but Maya’s circus training began at Cirkidz, in Adelaide at the age of seven. She has always excelled in both the arts and athletics, and was thrilled when she discovered that circus could be the perfect hybrid of both. This eventually led her to the National Institute of Circus Arts where she specialised in Partner Acrobatics and Chinese Pole, graduating with a Bachelors of Circus Arts. She is devoted to continue using circus as an art discipline; to tell stories, create striking performances, and explore physicality through an imaginative lens.

Black and white headshot of Lucy Hunterland

Lucy Hunterland

Flock

Since being told at a young age that she would never be able to do the splits, Lucy developed a passion for defying expectations. Graduating from Flipside Circus’s Performance Troupe in 2023, where she specialised in group acrobatics, partner acrobatics, and double trapeze, Lucy has gone on to perform with companies such as Collective Circus, Sparkle Society, Indelibility Arts, and Flipside Circus. She is also the founder of Australia’s first all women’s circus festival, Xena Circus Festival.

Black and white headshot of Clara Scudder-Davis

Clara Scudder-Davis

Flock

Originally from Seattle, USA, Clara is an acrobat specializing in hand balancing and hula hoops. She found her way to circus after studying dance and theatre, and fell in love with its playful rigor, creative community, and space for curiosity. After completing the professional formation at the Quebec Circus School in Canada, she worked with companies including Acting for Climate and Machine de Cirque before joining Circa in 2025. Alongside her circus career, Clara has concurrently earned her BA in psychology from Concordia University in Montreal. Always keen to work at the intersection of multiple art forms, she is intrigued by the oddity of the human body and enjoys unexpected and playful movement.

Black and white headshot of Sophie Seccombe

Sophie Seccombe

Timmy

Sophie Seccombe has cherished free movement from birth. Her slightly impetuous nature led her parents to enrol her in ballet lessons at age two. While formal training gave her a foundation, she preferred dancing in the bush and acrobatics on the roof.

Sophie stumbled upon contemporary circus at the West End markets in 2021. Immediately enthralled, circus exposed her to a world where ballet and gymnastics could be meshed with artistic expression without constraints. After a year of coaching by Gravity & Other Myths, she began touring in Rouge before engagement with Circa.

Outside of work, Sophie may be found listening to Mazzy Star, practicing Mandarin, and passionately advocating for the humbly exquisite chocolate crackle.

Black and white headshot of Anais Stewart

Anais Stewart

Flock, Pig

Raised in the small town and circus hotspot Mullumbimby, Anais was bound to end up in the Spaghetti Circus shed sooner or later. It was here that she spent most afternoons and Saturdays between the ages of six and eighteen, learning to perform, play and devise work. After graduating, Anais relocated to Melbourne/Naarm in pursuit of the arts, studying visual art at the VCA, then acrobatics and aerial straps at the National Institute of Circus Arts- completing her Bachelor of Circus Arts in 2024. An artist to the core, she is always hungry to create, collaborate, push, dissect and provoke.

Black and white headshot of Adam Strom

Adam Strom

Shaun

Adam Strom started circus classes at the age of six in Brisbane, Australia. He trained in acrobatics, aerials and juggling for 11 years with Flipside Circus, while also developing his skills in dance, music and theatre. In 2014, Adam was accepted into the Québec Circus School in Canada, where he specialised in German wheel and continued training as many other circus disciplines as he could. Since his three years of circus school, Adam has created and performed in myriad productions around the world, including Midnight Circus, Crépuscule by Flip Fabrique, and La Galerie by Machine de Cirque.

Black and white headshot of Tristan St John

Tristan St John

Farmer, Postman, Pig

Tristan laughs a lot, produces music and people always say he doesn't have an off switch.

Since the backyard trampoline, Tristan has always wanted to fly! Teeterboard and trampolining were a part of his upbringing since the age of ten; not a spare second was spent off it.

During the last eleven years, he has competed at national trampoline competitions, performed Teeterboard, Acrobatics and Chinese Pole to multiple audiences and has completed a Bachelor in Circus Arts.

Black and white headshot of Darby Sullivan

Darby Sullivan

Bitzer

Darby discovered circus at a holiday program when he was seven years old, then and there, he decided this is what he would pursue. Determined to achieve his goals, he took his passion for circus and acrobatics further, graduating from the Warehouse Circus in Canberra, performing around Australia and completing his studies at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne, where he specialised in straps, acrobatics and teeterboard. He’s now excited to keep exploring the limitations of what the human body can achieve whilst sharing his art around the world.

Black and white headshot of Rose Symons

Rose Symons

Flock

Rose has always been happier moving around than sitting still. After finishing high school, she had intended to study maths and science but decided instead to pursue her love of circus.

Rose stepped into the world of circus as a youth performance troupe member at Circus Oz. She has since worked with Na Djinang Circus and One Fell Swoop Circus and graduated in 2024 from the National Institute of Circus Arts. Focussing on aerial straps, hand balancing and acrobatics, Rose loves patterns, precision and detail.

Outside of circus, Rose can be found climbing mountains or getting lost in time at her sewing machine.

Black and white headshot of Harley Timmermans

Harley Timmermans

Bull, Flock

Growing up as a surfer bum on Phillip Island, Harley’s notoriety for jumping off bridges, climbing trees and always being the kid that got the ball off the roof soon found a creative outlet through acrobatics.

Harley thrived technically and artistically at the National Institute of Circus Arts graduating with a Bachelor of Circus Arts in 2017. Since graduating, Harley has worked with Head First Acrobats, Gravity & Other Myths, Highwire Entertainment, Velvet Rewired, SEXPO Australia, Strut & Fret, P&O Cruises and more.

He has travelled the world with productions starring in raunchy shows as a pirate, mad scientist, Hercules, cowboy, and even a gallivanting unicorn!

Harley loves to embrace characters of all types and brings a unique and charismatic performance style with first-rate technical skill.

Black and white headshot of Jordan Twartz

Jordan Twartz

Mum, Shirley, Farmer

Jordan discovered his passion for circus arts when he enrolled in classes at Cirkidz youth circus in his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. Here, he found a medium that allowed him to express his love of movement, play, and storytelling. This led him to study at the National Institute of Circus Arts where he graduated in 2018 with a Bachelors of Circus Arts. Since graduating he has worked as a diaboloist and group acrobat for several different companies each time enjoying the different challenges they present.

Credits

Produced by Shaun Comerford and Yaron Lifschitz with QPAC, Screen Queensland, Merrigong Theatre Company and Circa Contemporary Circus

By special arrangement with Aardman

Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show

Created by Yaron Lifschitz

Based on the Television Series “Shaun the Sheep” devised by Richard Starzak

Based on an original idea by Nick Park

©& AARDMAN ANIMATIONS LTD 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show has been supported through the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund  – an Australian Government initiative and by the Queensland Government’s Queensland Arts Showcase Program (QASP).

Circa acknowledges the assistance of the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

Circa, Shaun the Sheep and Aardman logos
A list of Australian funding partners for Circa