Women leaping the wire

Alana Kerr MELBOURNE — The Women's Circus' new show, Leaping the Wire, is playing at The Old Brickworks in Brunswick until December 9. A version will be performed at the Sydney Festival in early January. The Women's Circus is a feminist theatre group which seeks to involve women of all ages, cultures, backgrounds, sexualities, politics and abilities. The group employs three full-time coordinators and there are approximately 120 volunteers. The Women's Circus was founded in 1991 by one of its current artistic directors Donna Jackson. Its aim is to "do feminism not just talk about it". The all-women group has recently returned from a season at the United Nations Fourth World Conference and Forum on Women in Beijing. Louise Radcliffe-Smith, a long-time member of the group, and one of 10 directors of Leaping the Wire, told Green Left Weekly the performance is based on the theme: human rights, women's rights. The Women's Circus, in collaboration with Amnesty International, present the stories of the struggles of eight women from around the world. The main directors are Donna Jackson and Meme McDonald; eight other women performers direct each of the eight stories. The cast has increased for the Melbourne performance, and incorporates one Circus member's personal story of abuse. Stories from Aboriginal women, and women in Romania, Algeria, Brazil, Burma, Rwanda and the one that sparked controversy in Beijing — from Tibet — also feature. The performances and workshops the Circus gave in Beijing were successful; the group also made good international links. However, in Beijing the promotion and administration of the performances were left to the group, and the Chinese Security Police strongly objected to their portrayal of human rights violations in Tibet.