Erlend – The Stranger

An enchanting blend of multifaceted acrobatics and live music, this one-man acrobatic piece by Jindřich Kopidol is directed by Jan Jirák and accompanied by live music. It offers unique acrobatic elements with original balancing objects made of pure wood, metal and hardened plastic.

Erlend – The Stranger is an intimate circus solo with stunning effects.

A circus artist’s journey is the story of a versatile performer, charting a path in proximity to risk and adjacent to fear. He gives the audience a glimpse into his inner world, where he constantly defies the unsteady and unyielding in a never-ending search for balance. Still, he can change his point of view, rising and in control of the air or surrendering to the earth’s gravity. Erlend – The Stranger is a chain of impressive imagery, a melodramatic, lyrical reflection on the phases of life of a man who has lost himself and everyone around him. Solitude can create a world in one’s head that is completely disconnected from the world outside. Three musicians serve as the author’s inseparable partners: multi-instrumentalists Kryštof Krása and Tomáš Jirák, and singer Klaudia Korbely.

About the company

A multi-talented performer and artist, Jindřich Kopidol has long worked in the world of new circus and street art and takes the virtuosity of his balancing disciplines such as tightrope walking, balancing ladder, and rola bola to the next level through intensive study of various techniques of physical theatre, dance and approaches to expressive art. He has cooperated with CTJ Art Production since 2016, where he acts as a qualified rigger.

Jan Jirák is a performer, acrobat, choreographer and director. He studied at the Academy of Modern Circus in Denmark (AFUK) and The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU). He is a co-founder of Feel the Universe Circus Company. He founded the Prague Handstand School, a project dedicated to the development and education of professionals and the public in hand balancing, flexibility, dance acrobatics and movement flow. He is a lecturer at the Department of Nonverbal Theatre the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU).

BoCirk is a contemporary circus company creating original pieces in collaboration with leading Czech theatre and contemporaary circus artists. Our work is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Moravian-Silesian Region, Ostrava, and others.