For many of us, the first image that comes to mind is likely one of big stripy tents and a person in a top hat telling us to roll up. But circus in the 21st century is much removed from this, and one of the driving forces behind its continuing evolution is Upswing.
A multi-award-winning UK-based contemporary company, Upswing are committed to breaking the rules of traditional circus, experimenting with form, and finding fun, truthful ways to tell stories that really matter. They tell new stories you might not expect, and ensure every production is an adventure from award-winning films Common Ground and Circus Flavours on Screen, to family favourites The Ramshackle House and Bedtime Stories.
And in February 2026 they brought one of these adventures to the Southbank Centre as their acclaimed show The Princess and the Pea featured within our Imagine festival. This was Upswing’s second appearance with us, but given their previous visit was as part of Meltdown back in 2016, we thought it best to offer you this little refresher as to who they are and what they’re about.
This is their 20th year
Based in Staffordshire, Upswing was founded in 2006 by Vicki Dela Amedume. A bold, joyful contemporary circus company, they create extraordinary shows that surprise, delight and spark big ideas. Proudly diverse and female-led their work celebrates different voices and experiences, especially those from Black and Global Majority communities, inviting young audiences to see the world from fresh perspectives.
The human body is at the heart of their work
Through their performances and practice Upswing are committed to ‘entertain, inspire curiosity, share urgent ideas and tell new stories in extraordinary ways’. And through all this, their primary tool is the human body, which they centre as an expressive tool to both entertain and ignite a desire to build connection.
You won’t find them in a big top
And not necessarily in a theatre (though they do love performing in these as well). Instead, rather than confine themselves to these traditional spaces, which limit not only what they can do, but who they can share their performances with, they choose instead to meet audiences wherever they are. And so their work pops up in all sorts of surprising places, from libraries and parks, to care homes and event rooftops, turning these everyday spaces into places of wonder.
‘We take art outside, and immediately it becomes accessible to anyone who uses that street, that park, that square – spaces where everyone is already invited. Spaces where no one needs to ask for permission to enter.’
Vicki Dela Amedume, Artistic Director, Upswing
They aim to do more than put on a show
Performance is only a part of what Upswing do. Guided by the belief that circus offers a space for everyone to see the possibilities in themselves and others, they also run a wide-ranging engagement programme. This has seen them not only offer workshops to budding performers, but also take circus out into the community, running programmes for all ages in schools, libraries and care homes.
‘For me as a Black artist and maker, one of the most pressing problems we have is to see beyond the surface. Circus creates a democratic space to explore the extraordinary qualities that bind not divide us.’
Vicki Dela Amedume, Artistic Director, Upswing
They’ve performed across the country, and even across the pond
In their two decades to date Upswing have worked with some notable names in the arts world. They’ve provided consultancy for the likes of the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and supplied performers to circus legends, Barnum. They’ve appeared as part of the City of Culture celebrations in Hull in 2017, Coventry in 2021, and most recently Bradford in 2025, for which they joined forces with local artists and choirs to take over Shipley market square with Bloom. And they’ve also made waves in the US too with The Princess and The Pea enjoying a sell-out run on Broadway at the New Victory Theatre.
And their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed
Though they’re very much a company who values audience engagement over accolades, Upswing are certainly no strangers to the latter. Their 2021 work Circus Flavours On Screen won the Audience Choice award for Short Documentary at the 2022 Circus International Film Festival, and in 2023 they won the ‘Comedy Short’ category at the 2023 European Short Film Festival and the Founders Award for the 2023 Circus International Film Festival for their performance Common Ground. More recently, the pair behind The Princess and The Pea, Amedume and Theresa Heskins (Artistic Director of the New Vic Theatre), were nominated for a UK Theatre Award for Best Director for their co-direction of the 2024 stage adaptation of Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves.
‘Upswing demonstrates the real possibilities that emerge when circus, dance and theatre meet and meld’
Lyn Gardner, theatre critic
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