What the place looks like
The pictures are sorted into chapters: the venue, the shows, the festivals, the café and, at the end, how the dome was built. Tap any picture to see it large.
The venue
The dome is a timber frame made of triangles and stands without any supports inside. There is a stage with rows of chairs, but the room can also be set up as a circle. By day, light comes through the dome's skin; in the evening it glows from inside.
Shows
The stage belongs to contemporary circus. The pictures are sorted by what happens in them: in the air, in the wheel, on the ground, and everything that is not acrobatics.
In the air
Rings and other aerial apparatus hang from the top of the dome. Then there is the Chinese pole, a vertical pole artists hold themselves horizontal on.
Cyr wheel
One wheel and one body. In the Cyr wheel the artist turns across the stage, upright, on one arm or in a handstand.
Acrobatics, balance and juggling
Human pyramids, duo figures, handstands on chair backs and on wooden planks kept in balance. Some of it happens outdoors.
Dance, clowning and music
Not everything is acrobatics. There is dance, a clown plays with a hat and a fabric ladybird, and the music is made live on stage, once even on a guitar built from an olive oil can.
Festivals
In summer the Flower Festival takes over the grounds, in November the Freeman Festival, with autumn leaves outside and a programme inside. You will see aerial silk and rope, roller skates in the haze, magic, circles of conversation and a long crafts table.
Café
The café sits right next to the dome, with tables and parasols on the lawn. Coffee is there without a ticket, and during festivals there is hot food too.
How it was built
The dome arrived in Ostpark on a low loader. It was put up by hand in the Theatron: carrying beams, setting joints, section by section, until the first panels of the skin lay on the frame.
More pictures are coming
We keep adding to the gallery, including shots from the open training sessions. If you were at an event and took good photos, we would love to see them.