Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto, which explores the joys, sorrows, and hilarity of contemporary adulthood through music, circus and magic, will be seen in Europe for the first time this February as part of VAULT Festival. Book your tickets now.
Created by clown, aerialist, actor and director Felicity Hesed, the production runs at The Vaults from 12 to 16 February 2020.
Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto is both a deeply personal and universally human story. Created and performed by Hesed, this comedy offers a uniquely female perspective on the struggles of maintaining one’s identity in the midst of family life. The production incorporates music, trapeze and magic to spin a whimsical tale of love and loss. Hesed’s show offers a fresh, female voice in the world of clowning.
Felicity Hesed (Image: Alison Park Douglas)
Hesed studied at Kalamazoo College before beginning her acting career in Chicago, where she discovered clowning. Having trained with circus families including the Flying Gaonas and the Wallendas, she attended the Clown Conservatory. She regularly performs around San Francisco’s Bay Area, including at the Circus Center Cabaret.
Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto was actually developed as part of an Artist Residency at Circus Center and made its world premiere at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. Hesed developed the innovative and interactive show in collaboration with award-winning director Jeff Raz, whose performing career includes Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo and the Flying Karamazov Brothers’ Broadway production of The Comedy of Errors. The production’s trapeze climax is choreographed by Elena Panova, the master aerialist who was instrumental in creating a new style of solo trapeze acts in the 1980s.
During Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto, Hesed is joined on stage by violinist Clare Armenante who creates an invigorating and masterful soundscape based on Brahms’ Hungarian Dances. The instrumentalist regularly performs with eclectic bands including bluegrass group The High Water Line, western swing group The Vivants and hip-hop chamber group Ensemble Mik Nawooj.
Speaking about the production, Emmy Award winner, Clown Hall of Fame inductee and Big Apple Circus Director Steve Smith said:
“Felicity Hesed is an absolute delight… as an actor, an aerialist, a physical comedian and human being. Her new show, Cara Vita, thoughtfully, playfully, lovingly, joyfully takes us along for the ride.”
Billed as “London’s biggest, boldest and wildest arts and entertainment festival,” in 2019, VAULT Festival attracted more than 79,000 audience members to see 428 different shows staged by more than 2,000 artists.
In 2020, it runs from 28 January to 22 March 2020. Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto is one of many female-led productions running at the festival, among the others are fertility drama About 500, tale of slavery Sold, and one-woman exploration of the psyche The Journey of a Warlike Mind.
Watch the trailer for Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto
