Go to Show information Bursting in from Québec, Canada, five internationally acclaimed contemporary circus performers are making their Australasian premiere right here in Hawke’s Bay.

This family-friendly show follows five quirky characters who find themselves alone in an uncertain world, trying to contact other survivors with the help of a strange machine. Along the way, expect breathtaking teeterboard, juggling, live music and a very inventive use of a bath towel...

Ridiculously funny, touching and wildly inventive, Machine de Cirque combines extraordinary circus skill with deeply human storytelling, in a show that dazzles, delights and brings plenty of laughs along the way.

Following more than 700 performances across Europe, Asia and North America, Machine de Cirque arrives at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre this October as one of the headline acts of Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival 2026.

“Endlessly inventive, ridiculously energetic, child-friendly... Machine de Cirque has it all.” – Broadwayworld.com

“”[...] you’ll likely find yourself wearing a goofy smile as a quartet of high-spirited circus artists and one energetic percussionist team up to deliver an inspired performance of acrobatics and broad comedy.” The Boston Globe

"Machine de Cirque [...] is a seventy-minute show that goes by in the blink of an eye, with five performers who appear to be three times as many, in a multitude of inventive, musical, poetic, funny and clownish vignettes." Huffpost

Note: All ages event - performance runs continuously without intermission

With grateful thanks to our Core Funders Hastings District Council and Creative New Zealand. Thanks also to our Logistics Partner Big Save.