Meet Poppy Emer Greenfield who rehearsed, refined, and worked on her performance ‘Juggling at the End of the World’

One of Circus Factory’s aim is to provide a training and development space for artists; this is done by daily use of our training facility and through the Circus Factory Residency Programmes: Factory Bites and Factory Days. With residencies well underway and some complete, let’s meet the artists who were awarded a residency with Circus Factory Cork.

Hi Poppy, can you tell us about yourself generally?

West Cork based circus artist & director. My work weaves together threads of circus, storytelling and ecology. With a passion for devising and developing creation methodologies, I take big ideas and turns them into bite-size chunks of re-imagining for audiences to consume.

Graduate of Circomedia, school of contemporary circus and physical theatre. With a BA in performance (2019) and an MA in directing circus (2021), & in 2025. I completed a postgraduate short course at SKH circus, Stockholm University of the Arts titled ‘Research Design in Circus’.

Tell us about your work?

I have developed my own unique style centred around integration techniques within a meaning and movement context, creative writing informs physical metaphors, and juggling technique informs manipulation of everyday objects. Inspired by nature and our complex human relationship to the earth, as well as an understanding that art is activism and stories shape the world.

Which residency were you awarded? Can you share with us what you intend on doing with the award?

The week is being used for residency and rehearsals to complete the creation of a performance project which has been in creation for the past three years.

I would work alongside a technician for part of the process as they will be supporting the performance at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Wicklow in March.

Time & Space will be used to refine material and work out technical logistics for the upcoming performance. I am including a skill that I haven’t performed before – pendulum juggling which involves balls on strings from a single drop in line which takes up quite a large area. So undisrupted time to choreograph this would be so helpful.

What is the goal of the residency? Is there a show you would like to develop / a professional goal you’re working towards.

I’m hoping to complete the creation of a performance project, ‘Juggling at the End of the World’

My projects are developed through artistic research processes by creating context specific devising methods that integrate technique and meaning.

I work with sources from other artists and authors whose ideas inspire the stories I tell. Recent work has been influenced by; Donna Haraway – Staying with the trouble. Robin Wall Kimmerer- Braiding Sweetgrass & Ursula Le Guin -Dancing at the Edge of the World.

While juggling is my main discipline, I apply these techniques to object manipulation in general, working with non-circus-specific items such as; orchids, hose pipes, planks of wood, tea cups & bubbles.

This current project – Juggling at the Edge of the World includes juggling in multiple forms; clubs, balls, pendulums, bubbles, and everyday objects, alongside choreographed movement and creative text.

Juggling at the Edge of the World

Wicklow: Mermaid Arts Centre
March 18th | 8pm
Tickets: €18 (Full Price) | €16 (Concession Price)
Suitable for 16+yrs

Juggling at the Edge of the World brings audiences to a poetic performance world that invites reflection and reimagining. Through games of discovery, within the cracks and crevices. Puzzling together meaning with a judicious collection of fragments and everyday moments. Physical storytelling through an eco-feminist lens.

 

Can you tell us about your company Bumble Movement Arts?

Bumble Movement Arts is a contemporary performance company rooted in play, nature, and physical storytelling. Inspired by the humble bee, their work explores the intersection of ecology, circus, and theatre. ​

Original shows for outdoor and indoor spaces that blend circus, narrative, and comedy into joyful, thought-provoking experiences for audiences of all ages. ​At the heart of their work is a desire to pollinate connection—between people, between communities, and with the natural world.

 

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Image Credits: Paul Blakemore photography (JATEOTW) – Volt Circus City 2023
Bee-ology – Rowan Virgo / Instant Licht Productions