CIRCUS PERFORMERS YUCK IT UP T O GET PEOPLE TALKING
AFTER conquering the huge challenge of becoming a successful artist from regional Queensland, Karla Scott is excited and nervous to be returning home to perform.
As one of the hotly anticipated acts for the North Australian Festival of the Arts program, Yuck Circus features a six-strong crew of acrobatic “gals” who were not just throwing around women’s issues, but literally throwing women.
The show has toured nationally and internationally, picking up dozens of awards, and thrilling thousands along the way, with a “ripper” night promised for Townsville audiences featuring juggling, high-flying acrobatics and iconic Australian comedy.
An expert foot juggler, Ms Scott, 23, said they touched on some topics that some people might think were “yuck”, but acted as a conversation starter.
“During the show, we talk about menstruation, binge drinking, cat calling, all the things that some people may cringe when they hear about and say
‘oh, yuck, I don’t want to hear about that’,” Ms Scott said.
“We talk about it in a comical way and hopefully a lot of people can relate to us and the show and then can explain it to other people who don’t quite understand what’s going on.”
A keen gymnast who represented Queensland multiple times while growing up in Townsville, Ms Scott decided after high school to join a circus university in Melbourne.
From there she branched out performing in circuses and the fringe circuit in Perth and Adelaide before heading overseas to Edinburgh.
“It’s super hard to be a successful artist in a regional town. NAFA has been a godsend for artists in a regional community so they don’t have to travel to somewhere like Perth to express the work that they’ve been working on,” she said.
“Having a festival come to us is just perfect. It’s so good to give the regional communities a voice.”
Yuck Circus will be at