The Big Top almost turned into the big slop as the crew from Circus Monoxide raced against the rain to install their tent in MacCabe Park, Wollongong, yesterday.
The 12.5m high Big Top will become a late-night licensed venue for the Viva La Gong arts and community festival, able to cater for almost 500.
The Whitlams frontman Tim Freedman will be the first to sound-check the acoustics when he performs unplugged - with piano and string instruments - on Thursday night.
The double bill ($35/$25) includes Sculthorpe Remixed, in which Freedman, Katie Noonan and the Phil Slater Quartet reinterpret the orchestral and chamber works of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, 79.
Noonan will return on Friday night for Viva Voices ($35/$25), where she will be joined by The Idea of North quartet, followed by comedian Jackie Loeb.
And on Saturday night the Big Top will showcase what it does best: Circus Cabaret ($15/$10) with aerialist Jane Davis of Circus Monoxide, former Cirque du Soleil star Natalie Harris and others.
Later, Dancespace 383's Viva Dance ($10) will tango into the tent for a "steaming mix of salsa, samba, rumba and rock'n'roll".
Final-day access is free from 11am as BlueScope Steel Youth Orchestra brings an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Wild Swans.
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