ContraProductions

ContraProductions Support by Arts Council England & National Lottery.

Q***r | Neurodivergent | Performance Company - Bristol
Committed to making, touring & supporting the development of politically engaged, interdisciplinary, & boundary pushing work in Circus.

We are excited to announce that we have more A Spectacle of Herself shows coming up this year in the UK and Europe. We ...
05/05/2026

We are excited to announce that we have more A Spectacle of Herself shows coming up this year in the UK and Europe.

We kicked off spring 2026 at Circustad Festival in Rotterdam last week! Coming up this year we have:

24th - 27th June - Fusion Festival, Lärz, DE​
16th & 17th October - Circomedia, Bristol, UK

(Stay tuned for more dates tbc.)

For those of you new to our work A Spectacle of Herself is a neuroq***r solo circus theatre smorgasbord about what it means to take up space during this wild era of the 21st century space race - written and performed by Laura Murphy and directed by Ursula Martinez.

Stay tuned for more dates later this year. Excited to see you in a theatre somewhere soon!

Lor & Nicole

x

(All shows are captioned)

Contra has been working in partnership with Off the Record’s Freedom group, running a Theatre club, to make theatre and ...
04/12/2025

Contra has been working in partnership with Off the Record’s Freedom group, running a Theatre club, to make theatre and live performance more accessible, fun, and welcoming for LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent young people in Bristol.

With support from the Bristol City Council Originators Fund, we expanded our 2023 pilot and took groups of young people to shows across the city after which we got to catch up about how the young people found the shows.

As neurodivergent creatives ourselves, we are passionate about breaking down barriers to accessing the arts. We want young LGBTQIA+ people to feel like they belong in these spaces!

We hope that Theatre Club helps to demystify theatre, builds confidence, and nurture a sense of community. Along the way, we’re gathering learning, both to improve our own work and to share with venues, aiming for better access and inclusion in these spaces.

Big thanks you to our partners:
Off the Record
Bristol City Council
Bristol Old Vic
Circus City
To***co Factory

Lor & Nicole x

+Youth

We’ve been working behind the scenes this year, dreaming up ideas and researching our next performance masterpiece!We do...
02/10/2025

We’ve been working behind the scenes this year, dreaming up ideas and researching our next performance masterpiece!

We don’t want to share too much too soon whilst all of the ideas are still percolating and developing, however we do want to share these lush photos of our first R&D back in July. We had an epic, mind bending research week at as part of their Making Waves residency scheme in partnership with Unlimited, trying lots of new things including working with a cast!

Many thanks to our brilliant performers George Orange & Grania Pickard, Holly Black our video collaborator, Ursula Martinez for the writing direction and to Battersea Arts Centre - BAC & Unlimited for hosting us and supporting this first step.

More soon… xx

A Making Waves R&D Commission by Battersea Arts Centre in collaboration with Unlimited.

Made Possible with funding by Arts Council England and Cockayne Grants for the Arts.

Video still by

***rs

A few weeks ago, we took A Spectacle of Herself to Sibiu, Romania for two performances as part of the Festivalul Interna...
04/08/2025

A few weeks ago, we took A Spectacle of Herself to Sibiu, Romania for two performances as part of the Festivalul Internațional de Teatru de la Sibiu (FITS).

It felt really special to be included in this programme and to have the opportunity to share our work in Romania ❤️. Thank you so much for having us and to everyone who came to see the shows!

Love Laura and Nicole x

📸 Original image by .racz

***r ***r

Circus is Not the Only FruitDigital Magazine 2020https://www.circusisnottheonlyfruit.org/After a break, our online magaz...
07/07/2025

Circus is Not the Only Fruit
Digital Magazine
2020

https://www.circusisnottheonlyfruit.org/

After a break, our online magazine Circus is not the Only Fruit is back online!

Included are seven interviews and seven writing commissions from different practitioners working within circus.

The magazine was founded in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the intention of capturing the diversity of creative practice in the circus sector. Five years on, we have found it really interesting to reflect back on the different experiences and perspectives included within the publication. We hope you enjoy and please let us know what you think as you revisit or visit the magazine and dive into the work and insights of these amazing artists.

"We started this project with the motivation to listen to artists talk about art. In the middle of a pandemic, understandably the dominant conversation becomes centered around survival and rescue plans. The fear of being left behind is very real, particularly in an industry that struggles so much with its identity. There is the urge to all jump into the same lifeboat if we can. Not so much in resistance to this desire, but rather in the hope that creative dialogue and difference will be an important part of any future resolution, we wanted to hold space for artistic practice amid the emergency."

Big thanks again to all those people who gave their time and energy to this project.

Lots of love,

Nicole and Laura x

***r ***r

05/04/2022

A home town gig for the circus artist that wont shut up ;) Drawing from circus, stand-up and live art, Contra is a solo-cabaret of contradictions. Fierce, witty and uncompromising, this highly physical show interrogates personal, social and historical occupations of the female body and explores, lit...

OPPORTUNITYTraining Call Out – Understanding Sexual violence for artists and arts organisations.20th November 2020 10am-...
10/11/2020

OPPORTUNITY

Training Call Out – Understanding Sexual violence for artists and arts organisations.

20th November 2020 10am-12.30pm and then 2.30pm to 5pm

ContraProject is offering 12 fully funded places on this one day course, delivered via Zoom, certificated by Somerset & Avon R**e and Sexual Abuse Support (R**e Crisis England & Wales).

This course will equip artists and arts providers with the knowledge and skills to better support survivors of sexual violence through their work. This training is for those who would like to:

Develop as an ally to all the survivors in their lives
Deliver outreach work with community groups as part of artistic projects
Have an overview of the social and legal context of sexual violence in the UK
Understand the experience and impact of sexual violence
Identify the barriers to disclosure and seeking support
Feel confident to respond to disclosure, including safeguarding

Delivered by Emma Wellington from SARSAS, part of R**e Crisis England. Emma has worked with SARSAS as a volunteer, project worker and trainer for 7 years and has a background in circus and physical theatre.

To secure a place please email [email protected] with a bio & brief expression of interest. Places filled up fast on our last course, so please let us know by 16th November if you would like to attend.

We welcome all applications & to promote robust sexual violence understanding in our sector we particularly encourage arts organisation leaders and male leaders to apply.

This training is made possible by Arts Council England Emergency funds & national lottery players.

“I think circus is wonderful but what I like about it is that there are still enormous questions…” Daisy Drury is a prod...
22/09/2020

“I think circus is wonderful but what I like about it is that there are still enormous questions…”

Daisy Drury is a producer and arts consultant currently working with Lost Dog Dance , Extraordinary Bodies and on the Circus Snapshot Project for Crying Out Loud . We had a fantastic time talking with her about stagecraft, epic producing journeys and supporting students at National Centre for Circus Arts .

See her full interview here: https://www.circusisnottheonlyfruit.org/2020/08/12/daisy-drury/

“I really don’t like the way that people see disabled performers as inspirational or ‘brave’, regardless of what we do o...
18/09/2020

“I really don’t like the way that people see disabled performers as inspirational or ‘brave’, regardless of what we do on stage”

Milton Lopes is a London based interdisciplinary maker, writer, musician and actor who explores autobiography, race and disability in his work. We talk with him about his upcoming show Elephant, Buddhism, up-skilling and pushing against expectations.

Read the full article here:
https://www.circusisnottheonlyfruit.org/2020/08/24/milton-lopes/

“How we use our bodies in the world is always political” Vicki Amedume is the artistic director and founder of contempor...
14/09/2020

“How we use our bodies in the world is always political”

Vicki Amedume is the artistic director and founder of contemporary circus company Upswing Aerial, whose work spans performance and participation. We had fantastic time talking to her about the conversations we are not having, creating community and watching people move together.

Read the full article here:
https://www.circusisnottheonlyfruit.org/2020/08/12/vicki-amedume/

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