Duck Pond (Circa), at Princess Theatre - 75 minutes

Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling collide and are turned inside out in spectacular fashion by world renowned acrobatic circus troupe Circa.

If that isn’t enough, Duck Pond contains not one, but two surprise endings.

As per director and designer Yaron Lifschitz, who has crafted something very special, in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Princess Odette is cursed to live as a swan by day.

Photos by Daniel Boud and Pia Johnson

The spell can only be broken if a man who has never loved before swears eternal fidelity to her.

Prince Siegfried makes this vow by a lake in moonlight, but at the palace ball the next night he is deceived by Odile, the sorcerer’s daughter.

In Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, a large grey bird hatches among the ducks and suffers relentless mockery for being different.

The duckling wanders from place to place, surviving a brutal winter, until he encounters a flock of swans and sees his reflection.

So, as Lifschitz puts it, Swan Lake is about romantic love and its failures.

The Ugly Duckling is about finding where you belong and what it costs when you don’t fit in. 

Duck Pond looks at these tales and asks what if they are the same story? What if the real problem isn’t telling the swans apart, rather the prince and the palace?

But wait – there is more.

To that end, before this is over, the set will have a very different look. 

Just when we think the show is over, the whole thing turns tail and heads off in an entirely new direction.

How wild and clever!

When you reflect on this innovative piece of theatre, think circus arts mixed with balletic movement.

The masterful feats of 14 supremely talented performers are complimented by a diverse, passionate and exhilarating sound scape and most attractive lighting palate.

The composer is Jethro Woodward, who remains reverential to Tchaikovsky’s soaring score, while Alexander Berlage is responsible for the lighting design.

The striking costuming by Libby McDonnell brings black, white and yellow to the fore.

There are sparkles aplenty and one set of wings (black on one side and white on the other).

It is an awe-inspiring production that showcases creative genius, strength, stamina and remarkable agility.

The balance and flow are mesmerising. 

Duck Pond is also dramatic, fun, good humoured, fanciful and fortifying.

Human towers up to four atop one another are a mainstay, as are a flipper wearing duck army of cleaners carrying mops.

There are bodies upon bodies, bending, being used as a step ladder and thrown from person to person.

Cast members clamber up silks, cavort in a ring and effortlessly navigating a flying pole.

The program also incorporates a pillow fight, Cyr wheel and hula hoops, while the artistes take the time to preen inside illuminated boxes. Delicious, the latter.

Duck Pond is captivating – a most welcome and unincumbered ride into the fertile imagination of one of the world’s great directors, Circa’s founding father Lifschitz.

I implore you to see it.

It is on at Princess Theatre until 25^th January, 2026.