15 Feb 2018

Circus takes kids back to the risky '40s

From Nine To Noon, 10:13 am on 15 February 2018

Does it test your nerve when you see someone jumping off something dangerously high, or pulling on a rope just to see what happens?

And what if that person testing their limits is a child?

Jodie Farrugia is the director of Australia's national youth circus which is using its performances to ask challenging questions about when kids should be given the chance to take risks, and discover their own boundaries.

The performance is called Junk and it is coming to the Auckland Arts Festival in March.

Junk tells the story of a modern-day boy finding himself in an abandoned junkyard inhabited by the spirits of children from the 1940s and asks whether 'helicopter parents' over-supervise their children, denying them the chance to take risks, use their imagination and discover their own boundaries.

Inspired by childhood stories recorded with elderly residents of regional Australia, the production makes games they remembered such as hopscotch and leapfrog.