Toyota forklift to go on stage

At the Sydney Festival this coming January, a battery-electric Toyota 7FBE18 forklift truck will feature in the premiere of a dance-circus performance by Melbourne-based performance company KAGE.

Titled FORKLIFT (appropriately enough!), the 50-minute piece will have its world premiere with five performances at Carriageworks from January 16 to 19, before being presented outdoors at the Arts Centre Melbourne from February 12 to 16. FORKLIFT then heads out on an international tour that includes Finland and the United Kingdom.

Devised in Australia and developed at Helsinki's Center for New Circus (CIRKO), the piece features contortion, aerial acrobatics, striking lighting effects and original music.

It combines the talents of Finnish hand balancer Henna Kaikula with dancers Amy Macpherson (pictured) and Nicci Wilks.

KAGE co-founder and FORKLIFT director Kate Denborough said it was the first time in the company's 16-year history that it had used industrial equipment on stage.

"FORKLIFT examines the connection and relationship between humankind and machinery," she said.

Toyota Material Handling Australia's executive vice president and chief operating officer Steve Takacs said FORKLIFT was the company's first "on-stage" involvement with the performing arts.

"We are thrilled to be part of an edgy piece of theatre that is premiering at the Sydney Festival," he said.

"The workplace is, of course, quite different to the theatre. However, there can be art in material handling; it is a joy to watch a top-notch operator manoeuvring a forklift in a confined area," Takacs added.


KAGE's FORKLIFT. Pictured: Amy Macpherson, Photographer: Justin Bernhaut.