※ Q&A Session: May 9th(Thu), After the Performance 

<Synopsis>

The story forms itself around the joys and misfortunes of an unusual family (father, Mother and Daughter) that make a living by running a circus, which stands out as a point of light in an otherwise grimy and corporate city. The family’s long tradition of circus performance goes back many generations. It is their impeccable reputation which ensures their popularity; and it is the substantial audiences that they attract which allows them to survive the financial pressure of existing in a city dominated by large corporations.

The area where the circus is based was once a hotbed of culture, but over the years, one-by-one these cultural activities have, due to the rise and rise of rates and taxes, given up their real estate, creating an area that is now dominated by large corporations and financial institutions.

On many occasions the father of the family, and owner of the circus, turns down offers to sell the circus to the company which owns much of the otherreal estate where the circus is located.

We join the story at the most successful period in the family’s history; when - despite the increasing pressure they face from a city council that repeatedly increases the cost of their rental agreement - the circuses popularity is at an all-time high. This is mostly due to the mothers famous underwater escapology act. At the peak of their success, the daughter is conceived, and the family believes that life is good and the future is bright. But when the daughter is born with a rare and unusual medical condition the family’s life begins to change.

The family meet an eccentric and reputably questionable doctor, but desperate to help their daughter they agree to allow him to try an experimental surgical procedure on her. When this procedure is a success the family’s trust in the doctor is established and he becomes the first point-of-call for any ailment that afflicts their daughter, and there are many. She is a very sickly child, and each year on her birthday she is diagnosed with another condition that the doctor, who has established a great reputation and considerable wealth from his work with the family, continues to cure. But perhaps he is not all that he seems to be.

Despite the rising pressure from council taxes and the added medical costs the family’s circus continues to maintain its position in the city, but the corporate vultures are circling, eager to pounce should the opportunity arise.

To add to their burdens the Family is devastated by the accidental death of the mother who, because of a mechanical fault, is drowned during a performance.

Without the emotional linchpin of the mother the bond between father and daughter faces extreme pressure. The daughter’s health continues to deteriorate and the father’s financial problems increase perpetually, due to the loss of the mothers act and the damage to the circuses reputation.

After a prolonged stay in hospital the girl is reunited with the spirit of her mother, and with this new found strength she vows to save her father’s circus from its current financial crisis. In an attempt to bring audiences back to the circus, she decides, against her father’s will, to reintroduce her mother’s act, this time playing the central role herself. The climax of the story comes to fruition as again there are problems with the equipment and the girl seems bound to share the same fate as her mother. It is as the father and the family recovers from this final tragedy where our story eventually concludes.