Spiegeltent returns early to join New Annual festival in Newcastle

It's part holiday, part work, although it feels like Maidment is always on the job. He is always hunting talent, always on the move, making things happen.

He confirms the news that Strut & Fret is bringing new show to Newcastle in September, jumping on board the New Annual festival with its production Blanc de Blanc Encore scheduling a five-week run in a Spiegeltent commencing September 22.

It's a quick turn of events: Strut & Fret only finished a six-week run of its production, The Party, in a Spiegeltent at Civic Park in May.

"It's much sooner than we anticipated," he says. "It's a great place to come once a year."

But, the company was encouraged by Newcastle creatives to come for New Annual, the city-backed cultural festival finding its feet as a flagship event in Newcastle.

"We thought it fits in well," Maidment says. "We'll be at Darwin Festival just before this. We had such a good response to The Party. And Blanc de Blanc [Encore] is smashing it Sydney..."

Blanc de Blanc Encore has been playing at The Grand Electric in Sydney for 16 weeks.

He doesn't deny it is a business risk - "we still do have to sell a lot of tickets to cover it," he says. But he hardly draws a breath before adding, "we believe in festivals... I think it will be a surprise, but we always get a great response, one of best places of anywhere we go to."

"We're really excited to bring it to Newcastle," he says. "The Party was crazy and out there. This is more refined, more sophisticated, but the crazy fun they expect from Spiegeltent shows."

He's got no doubt about the show succeeding - he's built an audience in Newcastle over time with his strong brand of world-class acrobats, bawdy jokes and crowd interaction.

"We've got a great following in Newcastle," he says. "It's a very festive thing going to the Spiegeltent. From the festival point of view, it really gets a lot of people involved, out and about in the city. We can see the crossover of people from the Civic, or the churches, there's a whole heap of venues that are part of the festival. That kind of energy in the city is really good, really exciting."