CANBERRA Theatre is to be transformed into the round next month when “Le Noir – the Dark Side of Cirque’s” world tour makes it to town.

The theatre promises that the transformation will give “audiences an exhilarating 360-degree view of the show”, though CC isn’t sure that’s physically possible. No matter, the audience will find itself on the stage “in the centre of the action with the heart-pounding action only inches away”.

The performance features 24 circus acts and many of the performaers are former stars of Cirque du Soleil, boasting displays of balance, contortion, stamina and aerial artistry.

Producer Simon Painter says: “Part of the concept is to make the audience experience the show rather than just watch it and a number of sophisticated special effects are employed to make this possible.”

Canberra Theatre, May 6-10. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

Bum alert from Caboolture

THE “Caboolture Times” is very sniffy with the National Gallery’s decision to offer naked tours of the celebrated James Turrell exhibition.

Caboolture is a satellite city of 47,000 people 44kms north of Brisbane, and its weekly paper’s columnist Damian Bathersby, a man who apparently says taking cheap shots at life is the only thing that keeps him sane, came to the National Gallery once. “Not really my cup of tea,” he tells his readers.

“Apparently some bloke called James Turrell is about to open an exhibition where you can get your gear off and wander around.

“Take it from a bloke who played tunnel ball at the 2001 Nude Olympics…  you don’t get many supermodels at nude gatherings.

“What does interest me about the concept could be summed up in one word. Why?

“I mean, what’s the point of getting your gear off to look at art? If you’re going to get naked, why not do it at the beach? Or in a wine bar?”

He quotes the tour organiser, the “aptly-named” Stuart Ringholt, as saying clothing “materialises the spectator” and overwhelms the direct relationship of light-on-body – “The nude viewer is reduced to just themselves, because there is no second skin.”

Unconvinced, our Caboolture correspondent ends with a flurry saying: “I reckon he’d be singing a different tune if he’d spent any time bent over with some fat guy’s bum in his face and the creepy bloke behind him breathing just a little too heavy.”

Ken’s big anniversary

KEN Loft recently celebrated 30 years of supported employment with Koomarri, the wonderful organisation that’s been providing Canberrans with disability access to employment opportunities for 60 years.

Ken’s been working at Koomarri’s Pack ‘n’ Post part time, five days a week and also works at DTZ every morning in administrative support.

“I have worked at DTZ for 17 years,” he says. “I catch the bus to Civic in the morning and then to Woden to come to Koomarri.”

Ken knows the birth dates of everyone in the Koomarri office and prides himself on getting them the perfect birthday card. His favourite task at Pack ‘n’ Post is to “pack the Qantas headsets for the people going on planes”.

“We are lucky to have organisations such as DTZ working with us to create employment opportunities and we continue to seek more corporate employers for our clients,” says  says Koomarri CEO, Miranda Garnett.

Friends indeed

LOOKS like the Arboretum is in the throes of dispensing with its original community members if we’re reading a recent email from marketing co-ordinator Lynne Sealie correctly.

Writing to “Dear Arboretum Member”, Lynne breaks the news that the person’s membership has recently expired and that the Arboretum’s membership program is being phased out.

There are two options to renew; be passed to the arms of the Friends of the National Arboretum (which offers a discounted parking pass) or buy a stand-alone annual parking pass for $45.