The Dust Palace
The Goblin Market Tour Kicks Off 10 Year Anniversary Season For Leading NZ Circus Troupe
To celebrate The Dust Palace’s 10th year, the cirque-theatre, literary-inspired work The Goblin Market will thrill audiences in Tauranga (14 – 16 March), Wellington (27 – 30 March) and Auckland (3 – 13 April), after international performances wowed audiences in Vancouver and Montreal – the home of modern circus.
“We must not look at goblin men / We must not buy their fruits / Who knows upon what soil they fed / Their hungry
thirsty roots?” – Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market, published 1862.
Spring-boarding from Christina Rossetti’s iconic Victorian poem of the same name, The Dust Palace has reimagined the work in their epic and multi-genre performance. The Goblin Market celebrates the female gaze in its exploration of sexuality and the power of sisterhood through doubles trapeze, mask,
acrobatics, experimental film, aerial work, music and spoken word.
“Rossetti has written such a powerful piece of literature that the universal nature of the ideas stand-up to this day,
more than 150 years after they were written. Among other issues, we are still struggling to destigmatise sexuality in
young women,” says Eve Gordon, performer and co-founder of The Dust Palace.
The sisters are played by Eve Gordon and Rochelle Mangan, highly-acclaimed for her angular and daring physical performances, whilst Jay Clement, who dazzles audiences with his fluidity and precision, steps into the role of the goblin. Director and company
co-founder Mike Edward flexes his creative muscle with the challenge of bringing out strong emotion in this sensual but physically demanding
piece.
Eve says this is the most theatrically diverse production from the company, which includes a spoken reimagined version
of Goblin Market by artist and spoken word poet Jess Holly-bates. Eve has weaved in experimental film, another love of hers, into the AV component of the production, “I've always
wanted to join my world of experimental film and circus; I only stopped focusing on film because I realised that
physically, circus has a limited life span!” says Eve.
With a solid decade leading in the New Zealand circus arts scene, The Dust Palace, successfully crowdfunded $140,000 in 2018 to fund a large new physical theatre space in Penrose, Auckland. The space
opened in January 2019 as a home for the company’s training, performance development and weekly youth and adult classes
in circus skills.
Following The Goblin Market, The Dust Palace 2019 anniversary season sees the company performing across NZ with Human in Invercargill (3 May), Dawn with the APO in Auckland (11 – 12 October), andThe WonderWombs in Wairarapa, Nelson and Auckland in October and December.
Canadian theatre critics praised The Goblin Market:
“With very few words, they captured some of the key themes of temptation, seduction, and redemption in beautiful,
physically demanding circus performances…This performance was experimental and unique like the original poem, and unlike
anything I had seen before.” — Lauren Chancellor, The Review Weekly, Vancouver
“…artistic acrobatics on a 2 X 12 movable balance beam; on curtain streamers; rope; body-size rings; trapeze; floor
routines; extreme yoga contortions… a visual avant garde ballet of gymnastics movement” – Baird Blackstone, Broken Leg Reviews, Vancouver
The Goblin Market
Tauranga
15 March, Addison Theatre, Baycourt
tickets from Ticketek: https://premier.ticketek.co.nz/shows/show.aspx?sh=GOBLINMA19
Wellington
27 – 30 March, Hannah Playhouse
tickets from Iticket: https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2019/mar/the-goblin-market
Auckland
3 – 13 April, Herald Theatre
tickets from Ticketmaster: http://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/The-Goblin-Market-tickets/artist/2605960
Video trailer at https://vimeo.com/317704334. Contains nudity and adult themes
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Images to accompany this release can be found in this dropbox
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