Ra-Ra Zoo
Encyclopedia
Ra-Ra Zoo was an English
-based circus
theatre
company (1984–1994), started by Sue Broadway, Stephen Kent, David Spathaky and Sue Bradley while they were all working and staying together at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They opened their first full show at the Battersea
Arts Centre as part of the London International Mime Festival
in January 1985.
They toured internationally for ten years playing in theatres notable to Africa
, South America
, Australia
and extensively in Europe
. Their show under the joint Artistic Direction of David Spathaky and Sue Broadway combined the ethos of 'alternative' comedy
of the 1980 with a 1970s revival of Circus skills, variously called 'New or Neo Circus' which largely promoted human skill without the use of animal
s. Their background in street performing (' The Amazing Mendezies') and the influential Circus Oz
(of which Sue Broadway was a founding member) gave the show an irreverent, fast paced, surrealist
feel.
and other grants. Several large scale community shows and touring two shows at the same time in the early 1990s created jobs for more than twenty five people simultaneously at times. They adhered to a political commitment of a balance of men and women on stage and of equal pay for all company members throughout their existence.
Shows include:
','The Festival of Fools' in Amsterdam
and the German choreographer Pina Bauch. Political influence came from the 1970s wave of the feminist movement and direct action
politics like the protests at Greenham Common in the UK and the resurgence of 'theatre
' as political activism.
Ra-Ra Zoo influenced in turn many others as the company employed over a hundred people during its existence and played to many thousands of people world-wide. They spawned and encouraged, directly and indirectly, several off-shoots including The Circus Space
, The Gandini Juggling Project, The Flying Gorillas, No Ordinary Angels, Le La Les, Broadway and Co., and Stretch People.
Founder Sue Broadway returned to lead Circus Oz http://www.circusoz.com as Artistic Director and helped direct the circus elements of the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony.
Founder Dave Spathaky was in semi retirement due to injury related chronic pain from 1994 but after surgery in 2008 is producing and performing again as The Great Davido http://the-great-davido.com
Founder Stephen Kent is a renowned musician and alongside his performing hosts a weekly radio show of world music.
Mark Digby and Ali Houiellebecq who met while in RRZ and formed 'La le les' which toured successfully for many years.
Long time member Lindsey Butcher, dancer, juggler and aerialist subsequently formed Gravity & Levity http://www.gravity-levity.net/
Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala left Ra-Ra Zoo in 1992 to form the Gandini Juggling Project.
, guest spots on 'The Late Late Show' in elsewhere. They featured on a broadcast pilot for C4 with Spike Milligan
'The Last Laugh before TVAM'. Dave Spathaky and Sue Broadway also appeared together on several TV shows world wide successfully beating their own plate spinner world record.
In early days they played on the emerging 'New Variety' and alternative cabaret circuit and were the first company on stage at the newly reopened Hackney Empire in East London and subsequently played several successful seasons of their full length shows there.
Their extensive touring overseas was partly funded by the British Council
sometimes self produced. They represented the UK at World Expos in Canada in 1986 and Brisbane in 1988.
Ra-Ra Zoo's last full show was at the Liverpool
Everyman in 1994.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-based circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
company (1984–1994), started by Sue Broadway, Stephen Kent, David Spathaky and Sue Bradley while they were all working and staying together at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They opened their first full show at the Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
Arts Centre as part of the London International Mime Festival
London International Mime Festival
The London International Mime Festival is an annual theatre event in London. Its directors are Joseph Seelig and Helen Lannaghan, winners of the International Theatre Institute Award for Excellence....
in January 1985.
They toured internationally for ten years playing in theatres notable to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and extensively in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Their show under the joint Artistic Direction of David Spathaky and Sue Broadway combined the ethos of 'alternative' comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
of the 1980 with a 1970s revival of Circus skills, variously called 'New or Neo Circus' which largely promoted human skill without the use of animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s. Their background in street performing (' The Amazing Mendezies') and the influential Circus Oz
Circus Oz
Circus Oz was founded in December 1977, with its first performance season in March 1978. Circus Oz was the amalgamation of two already well-known groups - Soapbox Circus, a roadshow set up by the Australian Performing Group in 1976, and the New Ensemble Circus, a continuation of the New Circus,...
(of which Sue Broadway was a founding member) gave the show an irreverent, fast paced, surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
feel.
Productions
They produced several different shows and were occasionally supported in the UK by the Arts CouncilArts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
and other grants. Several large scale community shows and touring two shows at the same time in the early 1990s created jobs for more than twenty five people simultaneously at times. They adhered to a political commitment of a balance of men and women on stage and of equal pay for all company members throughout their existence.
Shows include:
- My Life on a Plate of Toast — Several versions - chamber circus 4 people on stage
- Domestic Bliss - touring seven person theatre circus show
- Stop Laughing This Is Serious - touring 7 person theatre circus show
- Fabulous Beasts - touring seven person theatre circus show
- Gravity Swing- touring seven person theatre circus show
- Angels and Amazons - all woman 3 person clown show
- Swan - a community circus
- White Snake - a community circus opera
- Cabinet of Curiosities - - chamber circus 4 people on stage
- Broadway Belles - All women caberet show
- The Mast - a site specific outdoor aerial rig
- The Plymouth Theatre Royal Cleaners - a commissioned intervention
Influence
Ra-Ra Zoo was influenced by the agitprop and political theatre of the late 1960s and early 70's and the ritual theatre and 'Happenings' associated with the time notably the 'Grand Magic Circus', 'Circus Oz','The People Show','Cunning StuntsCunning Stunts
Cunning Stunts is the name of a fictional play in the novel Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov . It is a spoonerism. Later appropriated by:*Cunning Stunts *Cunning Stunts...
','The Festival of Fools' in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and the German choreographer Pina Bauch. Political influence came from the 1970s wave of the feminist movement and direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
politics like the protests at Greenham Common in the UK and the resurgence of 'theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
' as political activism.
Ra-Ra Zoo influenced in turn many others as the company employed over a hundred people during its existence and played to many thousands of people world-wide. They spawned and encouraged, directly and indirectly, several off-shoots including The Circus Space
The Circus Space
The Circus Space in the Hoxton area of London offers the UK's only university degree programme in circus. It supports the professional development of circus performers and circus companies and runs youth and adult evening classes every week...
, The Gandini Juggling Project, The Flying Gorillas, No Ordinary Angels, Le La Les, Broadway and Co., and Stretch People.
Founder Sue Broadway returned to lead Circus Oz http://www.circusoz.com as Artistic Director and helped direct the circus elements of the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony.
Founder Dave Spathaky was in semi retirement due to injury related chronic pain from 1994 but after surgery in 2008 is producing and performing again as The Great Davido http://the-great-davido.com
Founder Stephen Kent is a renowned musician and alongside his performing hosts a weekly radio show of world music.
Mark Digby and Ali Houiellebecq who met while in RRZ and formed 'La le les' which toured successfully for many years.
Long time member Lindsey Butcher, dancer, juggler and aerialist subsequently formed Gravity & Levity http://www.gravity-levity.net/
Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala left Ra-Ra Zoo in 1992 to form the Gandini Juggling Project.
Visibility
The company performed on television on programs for young people like 'No. 73', Blue PeterBlue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
, guest spots on 'The Late Late Show' in elsewhere. They featured on a broadcast pilot for C4 with Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
'The Last Laugh before TVAM'. Dave Spathaky and Sue Broadway also appeared together on several TV shows world wide successfully beating their own plate spinner world record.
In early days they played on the emerging 'New Variety' and alternative cabaret circuit and were the first company on stage at the newly reopened Hackney Empire in East London and subsequently played several successful seasons of their full length shows there.
Their extensive touring overseas was partly funded by the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
sometimes self produced. They represented the UK at World Expos in Canada in 1986 and Brisbane in 1988.
Ra-Ra Zoo's last full show was at the Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
Everyman in 1994.