It's 1899 and all of Europe is agape at the arrival of the new century! The world crackles with possibilities - and its people dance to the irresistible rhythms of money, sex, love and freedom. Swinging above them all is a showbiz sensation; a fierce, vulgar, pant-droppingly sexy trapeze artist called Fevvers. The story charts her unlikely love affair with Walser, a world-weary journalist on a mission to expose her as a fake. Nights at the Circus opens at the Lyric Hammersmith in January 2006. Emma Rice, acclaimed Artistic Director of Kneehigh Theatre ( Tristan & Yseult , The Bacchae ) directs Angela Carter's great mythic novel. With rising star Natalia Tena as Fevvers ( About a Boy , Mrs Henderson Presents and Shared Experience's Bronte & Gone to Earth ) and Gisli Orn Gardarsson as Walser ( Young Vic's Romeo & Juliet and Woyzeck ).