Step
right
up.
Eleven performers. One steel-and-cedar big top. A live string quartet. Velvet & Sawdust is what happens when contemporary theatre marries circus craft and refuses to apologize for either.
The Cedar Sessions
A new ten-act programEleven acts. One nightfall.
Each show is an arranged setlist of vignettes — aerial, magic, drama, music — sequenced to read like a record album, not a variety show.
Sawdust Hymn
A solo aerial silk descent set to an unaccompanied violin. Three minutes that ask the audience to believe gravity is negotiable.
Match-Strike
Hand-balancing on a single chair stack. Live drum beneath. The chair count grows by one with each beat.
The Mentalist
Closeup magic blown wide open by stage cameras. You sit in the front row, then so does the trick.
Quartet Interlude
A six-minute pause sung by string and double bass. Bring tissues.
The Tightrope Bride
A duo wirewalk staged as a wedding processional. The applause is the rice.
Finale: Cedar
All eleven performers, one ring, the lights low, a song you almost recognise.
A decade in the round.
“Velvet & Sawdust earns every standing ovation it provokes — a circus that has finally learned to be art without losing its sense of dare.”
Mira Halpern,
Aerialist.
“The first time I went up the silks, my coach told me she’d catch me. The second time she didn’t. That’s when I learned what the show is actually about.”
Why this is not a circus.
Theatre, not spectacle.
Each act has a script — sometimes in dialogue, sometimes only in gesture. The show is sequenced like a play, not a variety bill.
A live string quartet.
No backing tracks. No looped audio. The score is composed nightly by four players seated stage right, scored to your specific room.
A small audience.
180 seats per show. The performer in row C can see your face. Several of them will look directly at you. Some will speak.
Five nights remain.
Common questions.
Is this suitable for children?
Recommended 12+. There are no graphic moments, but a handful of acts contain partial nudity (artistic, not gratuitous) and adult themes around grief and mortality. The Sunday matinee is family-friendly with two acts swapped.
How long is the show?
90 minutes. No interval. Latecomers will be seated only at carefully chosen moments, so plan to arrive 15 minutes before curtain.
Is the venue accessible?
Yes — wheelchair access from Pier 4, hearing loop in all rows, designated quiet entrance. We schedule one BSL-interpreted and one audio-described show every week. Contact us if you need a different accommodation.
Are tickets refundable?
Exchanges to a different date are free up to 48 hours before curtain. Refunds are issued only when we cancel. Sunday pay-what-you-can tickets are non-exchangeable.
Be there before the curtain.
Tickets release on the first Monday of every month. The current run is extended through 28 September. Doors at 7:30, curtain at 8.