The Flying Fruit Fly Circus was one of the productions of the Murray River Performing Group, initially an ensemble of nine artists, set up mostly by graduates the Victorian College of the Arts Drama School, including Robert "Bomber" Perrier, the first artistic director, Lloyd Suttor, Mark Shirrefs and Ian Mortimer. The group began full-time operations in 1979, the International Year of the Child. Within four months the group had conducted workshops and performed in over forty venues, written two shows, organised 171 circus training sessions and produced the first Flying Fruit Fly Circus event involving 117 performers. The second annual Flying Fruit Fly Circus event, in 1980, was seen by Chris Brookes, a Canadian playwright who visited at the suggestion of the
Community Arts Board of the
Australia Council. He suggested taking the Circus to the Vancouver Children's Festival in 1981. Tanya Lester won a Gold Medallion in Le Cirque de Demain Competition in Paris. In 1982 she was the recipient of the
Young Australian of the Year title. In 1982 the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe of China undertook a training project in Albury-Wodonga with Flying Fruit Fly Circus performers, Circus Oz and other physical theatre artists. The outcome was the show
The Great Leap Forward. In 2009, Flying Fruit Fly Circus performed
The Promise at the Sydney Festival and Albury for its 30 year anniversary. Federal Minister
Peter Garrett announced $3.75m government contribution to redevelop Flying Fruit Fly Circus training space. In 2015 it became a company in residence at the
Sydney Opera House with a three-year partnership and established a collaboration with the Vietnam School of Circus Arts and Vaudeville in Hanoi. It also travelled to Turkey for a two-week engagement in Istanbul as part of the Australia in Turkey Festival. ==Description==