Last year, The Pianist won the 2014 Total Theatre Award for Best Circus Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and is a production that has seen Thomas Monckton travel between New Zealand and Europe, collaborating alongside Finnish Company, Circo Aereo. It seems like a giant (and almost unlikely) leap for the small town boy – born in Patea, he now resides in Paris – a place that saw him initially sleeping in a tent and living on the city streets, on his arrival.
The Pianist is on at Circa Theatre in Wellington until 21 March, before heading to Auckland’s Herald Theatre and The Festival of Colour (Wanaka) in April.
