The Land Rover Series 1 Shaun the Sheep car features the gang in the front of the car, as well as Shaun artwork and the logo on its sides.

The launch coincides the 30th anniversary of Shaun’s first appearance in Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave.

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The range from Lush – who celebrates its own 30th anniversary this year – spans a Shaun Bath Bomb, a Timmy Bubble Bar, a Bitzer Body Balm and a Naughty Pigs Shower Jelly. The line is completed by a Troublesome Tractor Soap and a Mossy Bottom Body Spray.

The collection launches on the Lush app on February 17th, and online and in-store from February 20th.

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All proceeds from the jackets are going to Oxfam. Each of the jackets will be totally unique and incorporate Shaun the Sheep inspiration including faux shearling lined inner, cuffs and full collar. A ‘Baabour’ Shaun pin badge will also be incorporated, alongside a Shaun the Sheep key ring and embroidery to the front pocket.

The jackets will be sold by both Oxfam stores and Barbour.com, with the limited-edition jackets ‘hidden’ in various Oxfam shops across the country for lucky treasure hunters to find and buy.

“After the success of last year’s campaign, we are excited to be collaborating with Aardman for another year,” said Paul Wilkinson, Group Commercial Director at Barbour.

“A British brand that shares our core values of craftsmanship, attention to detail, and quality. The Barbour and Aardman customer is multi-generational, which was a big part of the inspiration behind this campaign. This year we are pleased to support Oxfam, giving 30 people the opportunity to purchase a unique, limited-edition Barbour x Shaun the Sheep Re-loved wax jacket with all proceeds going to the charity.”

Rachael Peacock, Senior Brand Manager at Aardman, added: “We’re delighted to launch the next festive Shaun the Sheep adventure for Barbour. These iconic British brands share strong values of quality, craft and a shared love of the outdoors. Shaun and the flock have never looked better than in Barbour!”

Check out the campaign ad below:

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The Sill’s exhibition will feature original artwork, props, and sets from the show. Hands-on activities will include a community litter pick, making useful items out of crisp packets, wildlife safaris, crafting and art, and a family-friendly picnic in Walltown Country Park.

There will also be a Wild in Art Find the Flock art trail, featuring six super-sized Shaun the Sheep sculptures dotted around the grounds of The Sill in Northumberland National Park. The sheep have been designed and decorated by local artists, inspired by the regional landscape. An activity sheet will accompany the trail for children and families to follow, and each sculpture will reveal a clue to the location of the next sculpture.

Shaun the Sheep themed products will also be available to buy in The Sill and Walltown shops, with Shaun-themed food in The Sill café.

“We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Aardman and Wild in Art to bring Shaun the Sheep to Northumberland this summer,” said Sarah Burn, Head of Engagement, Northumberland National Park said:

“We wanted to create a fun experience for visitors that will help more people to enjoy the countryside and understand and explore Northumberland National Park. The Love Your Landscape exhibition featuring Shaun the Sheep has been created to stimulate and nurture the next generation of landscape enthusiasts and ensure that these last wild places, and the communities within them, continue to thrive.”

Molly Van Den Brink, Attractions & Live Experiences Manager at Aardman, added: “Shaun the Sheep always feels most at home in the great outdoors, so what better place for him to enjoy this summer than the beautiful Northumberland National Park!

“We are thrilled to be working with the team at The Sill on an event programme and exhibition with such a poignant message; encouraging families to learn all about how to enjoy nature and the countryside responsibly through the lens of Shaun’s world. The Northumberland National Park are one of our key partners aligning with our brand-new Shaun the Sheep: One Farm brand initiative, which encourages families to engage with issues around environment and sustainability in a fun and entertaining way.”

Shaun the Sheep will be at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre from June 29th until September 8th.

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Live events have always been part of licensing, with long term examples being the likes of stage productions of The Snowman and Brainiac Live, while Rainbow Productions have been a standard bearer in live events with their proactive management of costume characters. In more recent times, there have been a broader range of players and activations coming to the market. We have pulled together a selection of recent and ongoing examples from the sector to give a flavour of this dynamic part of the licensing market…

“Exhibitions offer IP owners great scope to unlock their archives and create a calendar of events to build other activity around.”

Rebellion Publishing own an archive of British comics, The Treasury of British Comics. It’s a comprehensive, rich archive and Rebellion focus on bringing these classic comics to readers through a proactive publishing programme that blends reprints with original publishing. They are also alive to other ways of activating the archive and allowing consumers the chance to experience it. With this approach in mind, they have recently co-curated an exhibition called ‘Into Battle – The Art of British War Comics’ with the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum. The exhibition showcases original artwork from comics such as Charley’s War and Battle. The exhibition also gives the backstory to many of the comics, their creators and the context in which the comics were published. The exhibition opened in October and runs to the end of April. It’s been well received, and attendance numbers have been good.

Rebellion and The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum plan to tour the exhibition. There is an established model in the heritage sector where museums hire in exhibitions from other museums, not least as they know the exhibition has had success and is road tested. Exhibitions like this also act as a focal point for other activities, such as talks from creators, editorial features and – in the case of Rebellion – related publishing initiatives. Of course, there are also retail opportunities around event specific merchandise but also existing products… The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum have been selling a number of Rebellion’s war comic books.

“Theatres have recognised that branded content can help them reach non-traditional audiences.”

Exhibitions offer IP owners great scope to unlock their archives and create a calendar of events to build other activity around. This is particularly attractive against the backdrop of a fast-changing media marketplace. Exhibitions can become brand highlights – and can also become part of a brand’s forward plans. Other IP owners, like Aardman, have become very adept at curating and touring exhibitions.

Recently they have been working with London’s Cartoon Museum on a Wallace & Gromit exhibition which includes production sketches, props and interviews with the creative team. Exhibitions can also work on a global scale, as the ‘Elvis – Direct from Graceland’ exhibition currently at London Bridge shows. They can also become the centrepiece of anniversaries, as the Disney 100 Exhibition currently showing at The O2 in London demonstrates.

Another success story in the sector is Wild in Art. Wild in Art have pioneered the concept of public art trails featuring licensed characters, creating trails based around a series of sculptures that are installed in public spaces. The sculptures are decorated individually by artists or other creative partners and the trails are generally located in city centres or locations like National Trust properties. They have recently launched two new trails featuring licensed brands. The SmileyWorld Art trail was launched in London at Easter. The trail is located at Battersea Power Station and features 15 “positivity -spreading” emoticon sculptures, located around the riverside area that Battersea Power Station occupies.

The other recent launch for Wild in Art features Shaun the Sheep. 12 colourful Shaun the Sheep sculptures have been located around the grounds at Tatton Park. These trails bring visitors into the host locations and deliver health benefits for visitors as they walk around the trails. The trails are also a hub for creativity as the sculptures are decorated by artists – in many cases, they give artists a welcome showcase for their work. Of course, for the brand owners they have created a new way of connecting with consumers and create retail opportunities on site and in the local area. Locations like Tatton Park buy in products from existing licensees and in some cases, trail specific merchandise will also be created.

Wild in Art have found a successful formula for delivering successful trails; not least as they have been able to create effective partnerships between brand owners, locations and creators. From time to time the trails also involve charities who use them for fundraising – with companies sponsoring the sculptures, which are then auctioned off at the conclusion of the trail. Wild in Art have shown that it is possible to create new experiential ‘products’ and that there’s an appetite for well-known IP to be developed in fresh ways in the live space. Wild in Art’s success should encourage IP owners and production companies that there is scope to deliver new and original experiences.

Returning to the Museum sector, it has been interesting to see how museums have recognised that branded content can give them a fresh way of bringing in audiences. A good example of this can be found at The Story Museum in Oxford. They have announced plans to open an Elmer-branded storytelling space in the Museum. The spark behind this is Elmer’s 35th anniversary which is being celebrated this year. In addition to the storytelling space, the Museum is hosting an Elmer Day on May 25th which will include storytelling sessions.

Another interesting example of live events developed from the publishing sector is celebrated illustrator Nick Sharratt’s Drawalong. This event features Sharratt showing how to draw a number of well-known characters that he’s illustrated in his career, including the likes of Tracy Beaker. He has written and illustrated over 300 books and is highly respected. The event is one bought in by venues; a really good example of how events can be created in different ways.

As noted in the introduction to this article, Rainbow Productions have been a leading light in the licensed events category. Rainbow design, develop and manufacture costume characters and a large part of their focus is on licensed character costumes. They generally operate these under license from the brand owners. In turn, they market the characters and costumes to the leisure sector to create events out of costume visits. Locations such as farm attractions, theme parks and play parks book costumes which then they market as ‘meet and greet’ opportunities. These appearances are promoted by the host venues and create footfall for them.

Over the years Rainbow Productions have finessed their model and now help create bespoke events for partners, plus supply operators like Butlins with costumes that are used in stage shows. Companies like Butlins use a range of branded content to build their leisure offer and the holiday sector is an area of growth for licensing.

It’s also worth noting how theme park operators such as Paulton’s Park have used IP such as Peppa Pig to create themed attractions and the positive impact developments like this have had for them. Likewise, IP has been used to create rides at theme parks – a good example being Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s ongoing use of Wallace & Gromit in their Thrill-o-Matic ride.

Theatre shows are another area where licensing is making an impact. Looking at recent listings for a regional theatre like Richmond Theatre give some insight into the variety of productions that are in the market that have been developed from licensed content or with a brand approach. Richmond Theatre has hosted Milkshake Live based on the Channel 5 programming block; a theatre show based on the board game Cluedo; a live version of the hit TV comedy series Drop the Dead Donkey and a couple of celebrity driven ‘Evening With’ style events featuring Professor Brian Cox and TV vet Noel Fitzpatrick.

Theatres have recognised that branded content can help them reach non-traditional audiences and create marketing momentum for them. Appearing in the theatre is a way of brands extending their reach and also creates a new way to deliver content.

Another dynamic in the world of theatre is the use of well-known IP in music concerts. Paddington in Concert is on tour, offering people the chance to watch the Paddington film accompanied by an orchestra playing the score. It’s also interesting to see media owners such as Radio 2 develop live tours. DJ Gary Davies is currently hosting a live tour centred on the ‘Sound of the 80s’, based on his Radio Two show. There are specialist operators in this space such as Carrot Productions who work with brands such as Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and the Amazing Maurice to create music shows. They have also partnered with Anderson Entertainment to create the show Stand By For Action which celebrates the music and characters of Gerry Anderson including cult hits like Thunderbirds and Space 1999.

New technology has also created new opportunities for licensed content in the experiential category. This is seen to good effect in categories such as escape rooms and themed experiences. Hasbro’s Monopoly Live, which operates in London’s West End, is a great example of how new technology and design have helped Hasbro bring their classic board game alive. Likewise, in the escape room sector, branded content is making a great impact. Brands like Wallace & Gromit now have a strong presence in the category. As the category matured and becomes more competitive, themed content developed with well-known brands can help operators stand out in the market and achieve a competitive edge.

There have also been some novel developments in the space which have shown how licensed content can work outside the norm, providing a creative solution to operators seeking an original approach in a competitive sector. Brigit’s Bakery operate themed bus tours in London which have included Paddington and Peppa Pig. These tours –hosted on traditional London double decker buses – allow passengers to sample a themed afternoon tea based around their chosen character.

Sticking with tourism, the Terrible Thames boat tour themed around the Horrible Histories book series appears to be a great success and is set to run again this year. It has added a new dynamic to Thames sightseeing boat trips and help stir up a rather traditional tour format.

Another example of a branded approach adding a new dimension to a leisure format is the Bear Grylls Adventure in Birmingham. Set indoors and outdoors at the NEC, this adventure centre leans on Bear Grylls reputation and spirit of adventure to create a product that is differentiated from the competition. One of the key advantages of leisure operators using branded content to create their products is that it brings an audience with it – and also a plentiful supply of content for their marketing activities. This latter point is particularly valuable in the digital marketing space.

It will be interesting to see what new developments are unveiled in the experiential market this year… There are sure to be a number of new developments as it’s clear this is a category of business that’s firmly on brand owners’ radars, while leisure operators have ample evidence to refer to these days that demonstrates that licensing works well in the live sector.

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Plantable as in…
You read the story, put the book in the ground and then grow the main character!

Brilliant.
All of our books are produced here at my family printing business Alfred Willday & Sons and have over 500 non-GMO seeds per book. Over the last four years, Willsow has grown – pardon the pun! – and now boasts seven books in the range – including our all-new book with Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep.

We have pens shaped like carrots, of course, and greetings cards made of elephant poo! We have also recently launched our first range of plantable greetings cards with 15 designs that can all be planted to grow your greetings into wildflowers!

Sticking with puns, where did the seed of this idea come from?
Truthfully, the lightbulb moment happened in the pub after being given a plantable business card. I wondered how we could combine my family’s printing business with the fairly bonkers concept of plantable paper… Then eureka! I had the idea to create children’s books that would encourage children to get outside and experience the magic of growing their own. I saw first-hand how much time family members were spending on screens and knew there must be a solution.

“You read the story, put the book in the ground and then grow the main character!”

Your product integrates seeds into the books and cards. I imagine this was quite a challenge from a design and logistical perspective.
The implanting of the seeds in the paper is much like a paper-mache process! Recycled paper is made into a paste and then the seeds are dropped in and dried. We trialled various versions of the book… We’ve gone from having every page seeded, to having one page with seeds, to now having the front and back cover be plantable!

In both those early stages and now we take on board consumer feedback. Creating and designing the books as the brand evolves is always a fun and creative process. We’re making print great again – it isn’t a dying trade as is commonly believed! Sadly, it’s the creativity dying in business owners.

You have launched a Shaun the Sheep plantable book. Why did you decide to add a licensed product to your range?
Working with Aardman felt like a no-brainer! They are such an iconic British brand and Shaun is a household name – plus he never takes life too seriously. We felt Shaun’s brand voice perfectly aligned with our non-corporate approach to business. That is not to say that we weren’t apprehensive and nervous about our first venture into licensing!

“Having such an iconic character on our books felt like a lot of pressure!”

We knew Shaun was a great fit with him being an outdoor character – and he aligns with the wildflowers in the paper as sheep eat flowers! We also went into it knowing the benefits of extending our product range, but it was nerve-racking to take onboard the responsibility of such a character and incorporate him into our format.

What was the design process like, working with Aardman?
Aardman were great and, alongside yourself Ian at Start Licensing, we were guided us through the process at every step. Having such an iconic character on our books felt like a lot of pressure. It was a lot of trial and error but we are so pleased with the end product. We knew Aardman wanted the best possible outcome and it was a really fun process looking at different design directions.

How would you ‘sell’ the benefits of licensing to companies who haven’t worked with a brand yet?
Working with a licensed brand is great for brand exposure and awareness – and it isn’t as daunting as it initially might seem! It’s also a great way to introduce a new product line that opens the door to new retailers and a new market. Since licensing, we have gained new accounts but have also been able to offer existing accounts something different and exciting that customers instantly recognise. Having a great idea is just the start… Having more SKUs gives retailers more options and licensing provides the platform to achieve this.

Great answer! Now, you successfully appeared on Dragons’ Den. Tell us about that process.
Dragons’ Den was a whirlwind! We went on with the aim to just give it a go… It came as a bit of a shock to receive not one offer, not two offers – but three! We were passionate and had every faith in the idea, but to portray that to Dragons while being filmed – and grilled! – is nerve-racking to say the least!

Got any tips for anyone considering applying?
Going in with the correct business figures and valuation is huge – we are there to get investment, but mostly a business partner. Alienating them with a huge valuation and offering a shocking percentage is not the way to do business – or attract the correct investor.

How has your Dragon – Sara Davies – helped you?
Sara’s advice and business acumen has been crucial in navigating us through the past couple of years. For example, Sara highly recommended trade shows and helped us understand and simplify the process. Trade shows were something we hadn’t really dipped into, and now these are a vital part of our working year and generate a significant amount of business for us.

“Working with a licensed brand is great for brand exposure and awareness – and it isn’t as daunting as it initially might seem!

We have also met some great people and companies through Sara who have helped us greatly along our journey. I believe mentors can be of great help to young businesses as their knowledge and experience can provide access to a network and advice that otherwise you wouldn’t have access too. Having Sara there when we need help has been invaluable – plus she has been giving us TV sales training… Watch this space!

As a start-up business, have there been some key learnings that you have picked up?
You have to try everything once! We have learnt – sometimes the hard way – that you have to put yourself out there and try new things, even if it may not work. For us, diving into the wholesale gift market and selling B2B has been very beneficial. On the flip side, doing B2C shows such as RHS Chelsea have been great for us. Some shows work and some don’t! Each brand is different but we find speaking to others in industry to get their feedback is great. You have to take advice where you can and learn as you go! Don’t sit on your Grandad’s chair thinking I wish I did this back in the day!

Where do you hope Willsow will be in a year’s time?
We hope we continue to be growing as a business and to have settled our feet firmly in the US market. There are plenty of new products in the making at this time, including some exciting updates to be announced at Spring Fair 2024.

Finally, if you were pitching Willsow to a retail buyer, why should they take your products?
Our books are the first and only of their kind! With Willsow books, you aren’t just selling a book but a moment shared between a child and their grandparent, parent or siblings. The end of the story is just beginning as it really is the gift that just keeps giving! Once the book has been read, there is an activity to be enjoyed. Then once it has grown, they can enjoy eating their home-grown vegetable or herbs!

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The new campaign will help encourage children and young people to “respect, protect and enjoy” the countryside.

It follows research from Natural England’s Children’s People and Nature Survey where 80% of children and young people agreed that looking after the environment was important to them, and 83% said they wanted to do more to look after nature and wildlife.

“Shaun the Sheep and his endearing friends are the perfect illustration for the next generation of explorers on how to respect, protect and enjoy nature, whether in parks in towns and cities, at the seaside or in the countryside,” said Marian Spain, Chief Executive of Natural England.

As part of the campaign, Pawprint Family is offering a challenge badge accompanied by a free downloadable activity pack and printable resources for use in schools, youth groups, home education and more. The free challenge pack includes over 40 activity ideas to help children discover the Countryside Code and its key messaging to Respect, Protect, Enjoy.

In addition, Pawprint Family has developed two wholesale products – a sew on badge and an enamel pin badge – to help broaden the reach of the project.

Rachael Peacock, Senior Brand Manager at Aardman, added: “It’s great to be working with Natural England on this engaging and informative Countryside Code campaign as part of Shaun the Sheep’s One Farm initiative where we are positioning Shaun as a fun environmental ambassador; we have one farm, let’s flock together to look after it’

“Living on Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun’s connection to the countryside makes him a baa-rilliant and fun ambassador for nature, and we look forward to encouraging families to enjoy the outdoors respectfully.”

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As such, it perhaps came as something of a surprise when it was announced that Circa’s next show would be a collaboration with renowned animation studio Aardman in the form of Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show.

As the show prepares to debut at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre in Queensland, Australia, we caught up with Yaron Lifschitz, CEO and Artistic Director at Circa, to find out about why giving Shaun the Sheep the Circa treatment has been one of the toughest creative challenges of his career.

Hi Yaron, thanks so much for taking time out for this. First off, I know very little about the circus space, so how did you get involved in this industry? Do most people come to it from other areas of the arts?
Well, it’s not a big field, it’s a mid-size field. Some people start directly in circus and train as circus artists; they perform for years and then go on to create shows. Others create shows first and are circus natives. I trained as a theatre director and went to the National Academy here in Australia.

“We’re going nuts! There’s jokes, there’s sheep, there’s wool; look, it’s a new world for me!”

I started to direct shows – plays mainly – and discovered I didn’t like plays very much because they were full of people talking about stuff that didn’t happen. I remember there’s a line in The Simpsons where Homer is at a zoo and he goes up to some tigers laying in a cage and says “I’ve seen PLAYS that were more exciting than this… honest to God, PLAYS!” That’s how I felt back then and mostly still do. I think theatre got enslaved by literature; it’s been taught to be about a bunch of themes and ideas. I knew it wasn’t my calling.

So I worked in events, in opera and for five years I ran an artist-in-residence programme at a The Australian Museum in Sydney, the oldest cultural institution in Australia. I felt like the world was a much more interesting place than the staged version; people talking about their gay divorced, middle-aged alcoholic son, or whatever the play was.

So a desire to work in something more creatively challenging took you into the circus?
Well, I always knew that the thing that would interest me the most would be to dive deep into something that had a narrow set of languages. There were three companies in Australia at the time that I felt I could take in an interesting direction; one was a contemporary opera, one was a puppet company and one was a circus company.

The circus company came up first, I got the job and then I spent five or six years getting the worst reviews you could possibly imagine. The whole thing was a complete catastrophe, but we would always see these little embers of ideas and from those we created a way of working that became a very strong house style.

For anyone that hasn’t had the pleasure of seeing a Circa show, how would you sum that style up?
It’s very stripped back, very physical and very much about how the body can become the site of emotion and expression. That approach has served us really well from when we started touring internationally in 2005/2006 to 2011/2012, and then we began to evolve and stretch our ambitions, to do shows in cemeteries in London and we’ve made films and operas.

We have a curiosity and a restlessness. To use a drinking metaphor, it’s like a fine spirit that’s very strong, so you don’t always want to drink it raw. Sometimes you want to mix it and make a cocktail with it. Now that we’re very confident about what the spirit is and we’ve distilled it to a point of clarity, we can pour it liberally into lots of different vessels.

Circa has been hailed for exhilarating, innovative and sometimes quite unexpected shows; is that typical of the sorts of projects you seek out?
I’m very curious, I’m restless and I don’t like to believe things just because they’re so; I have an interest in what lives under the hood. Yates said: ‘Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrels with ourselves we make poetry’. I don’t know anybody that pushes deep into the night because they like the idea of innovation. I think we do it because it comes from a deep, inexplicable and often wordless place within ourselves. We trying to understand it, live with it and stop it eating at us.

I make a lot of shows; some years perhaps eight or ten new shows. Most circus directors will make one or two. I feel a bit like the beaver who has to keep gnawing on wood because otherwise their teeth grow too long and they die because they can’t eat food. I’m a bit like that with shows. I don’t always know why I make them but I feel a compulsion to push my shabby stuff out into the world.

“In the show, one of the sheep does a burlesque act where she shears herself down to her bra and pants. I was convinced that Aardman was going to have a problem with it, but they were like ‘great idea! That sounds fabulous!’”

Delving into that compulsion a little, what are those first steps like when you’re putting together a Circa show? Does it start with a story or can a stunt sometimes be the launchpad?
It’s a great question and I don’t know that there is a method. The method is what you do to get you to the starting gun. Sometimes you wake up with a great idea. Sometimes you get to the end of a process three years down the track of touring a show and think ‘why did I even make that show? It was a dumb idea.’ Some of the best shows we’ve made have never been touring successes and some shows that have had long lives and grown into very beautiful things started out with the worst skeleton of a half-baked idea.

I’m very lucky because I work with very talented people who can fill a stage with excitement. My process is very simple. If you think about an oyster, it gets a grain of sand in it and that irritates the oyster into producing a pearl. My job is to be the grain of sand. At some point, I have to disrupt, whether that’s the acrobatic pathway, the theme or the performance itself. My job is to be the irritant, but not just for the sake of irritating. You can irritate an oyster and not end up with a pearl in the same way you can irritate a process and just be bloody annoying. And the two aren’t mutually exclusive; I can create beauty and be bloody annoying. That’s even quite common! But yes, it’s about having that ability to home in and see that by disrupting an element, it could create beauty.

That’s fascinating. Can you give me an exciting example of the sort of irritation or disruption you might use when creating a show?
It can be very simple. Lots of acrobatics comes out of stuff like, ‘climb up, but climb up without using your hands’. Suddenly all these pathways and thinking is activated. I’m fascinated by the fact that we’re neurobiological machines that are extraordinarily complex but our bodies are these kinds of living sculptures. People stand and gawp at Michelangelo’s David like it’s a masterpiece when it’s a really good copy of something nature created and that we’re all blessed with. Avoid the queues and look in a mirror!

Another thing we’re all blessed with is the work of Aardman, and you’ve teamed up with the studio to create Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show, a brand new Circa show blending animation, live acrobatics and plenty of surprises we won’t ruin here! It’s not the sort of collaboration many would have guessed, so talk us through your approach to giving Shaun the Sheep the circus treatment? What’s it like creating something based on a brand?
We’re going nuts! There’s jokes, there’s sheep, there’s wool; look, it’s a new world for me!

I often think I have an immediate boss which is the audience, and my success is based on my ability to authentically communicate with them, whether they like the show or not. Then there’s the overseers who I’m deeply responsible to, which is the 10,000 year old tradition of live performance; the ritual, the ecstasy, the reason why you perform live, the reason people still go to church and to rock concerts – that electric moment we all share together. Then there’s the mass of style guides, brand bibles and perceived practices that you get when you’re dealing with clay sheep!

Ha! And how has it been working with Aardman? You’re both very different companies but there seems to be a creativity and a playfulness that you share.
These beautiful, kooky, surreal Bristolians are super-talented and I love what they do. They also have a great admiration for what we do, so it’s been a great meeting.

Of course, we see the world in fundamentally different ways. Their world is two-dimensional; almost everything they do is translated from three dimensions into two dimensions. We’re the exact opposite; we take things and add dimensionality. We’re quite often talking different languages and we have to figure out how to get those languages to match up.

So with those polarising viewpoints, what has been the key to making the collaboration work?
As with most things in life, it begins and ends with the relationship, and relationships are based on communication, trust and the ability to course-correct. We’ll say things and they’ll think we don’t know anything, and they’ll say things and we’ll think they won’t work in our world. We’re very good at what we do and they’re very good at what they do. We had to find a communal space.

What’s interesting is that I’ll go to a meeting with Aardman and I’ll bring 50 ideas. I’ll think ‘these five will be the problem’, but they’re never the problem! The problems are things that I thought would be so easy to accept because, in my world, they’re so mundane. It continually perplexes me!

Having immersed yourself in the world of Shaun the Sheep, how did you decide what elements would translate well into a live circus show? Were there parts of that world you knew straight away would slot into a Circa show?
It’s been one of the hardest creative adventures of my life – when I finally cracked the spine of the story, I was so relived. It’s difficult, but it makes sense because Shaun the Sheep is non-verbal, highly physical and has a great sense of comedy and human warmth. It’s well-loved so we’re starting from a position of people liking the idea and engaging with it. There’s also a great sense of cheekiness and play.

The circus is a big affront to entropy. If you and I sit on the sofa, we can eat a pack of crisps and watch the telly. We just get marginally wider and a bit less thermodynamically effective. In circus, you’re doing the opposite. You’re constantly building things and putting them in motion; that requires energy and motion. In Shaun the Sheep, there’s always this spark of cheeky energy that starts an episode or causes something to happen. That really connected with us. Circus is all about doing things that require effort, and that often comes from a sense of playfulness, fun and a desire for admiration. Those are all qualities that you see in Shaun the Sheep.

“Fear is a very good driver, and so is doubt. I like to start every project with ‘let’s not fuck this up’ and finish it with ‘we fooled them again!’”

Is this kind of collaboration rare? Or has the circus got a rich history of working with brands?
Well, Harry Potter is on stage and Shrek has a musical, so there is a hunger for live performance, but our Shaun the Sheep show is quite different. Our work is usually hard-edged, quite uncompromising and pretty savage. It features very strong women who pick men up and it’s very contemporary. What I like about this interpretation is that it’s not us coming along and acting out Shaun the Sheep. Instead, we’re smashing into this world and watching the lambs fly! It’s weird, joyful and messed up all at the same time.

You mentioned there that your work is usually quite uncompromising. Was there any fear that by doing Shaun the Sheep you’d be asked to smooth down your edges and water down what Circa is known for?
This is what keeps amusing and amazing me. The edges aren’t the problem. In the show, one of the sheep does a burlesque act where she shears herself down to her bra and pants. I was convinced that Aardman was going to have a problem with it, but they were like ‘great idea! That sounds fabulous!’ Then I wanted a shot of a character outside in our reality, but they said it was too complicated because you can’t mix the worlds. The brand thinking is very different to ours.

I’m glad the burlesque got the green light though because that sounds brilliant; and it sounds like the compromises are actually pretty straightforward?
Well, one is the size of the sheep relative to people; it’s an obsessive thing at Aardman! I still don’t know what size the sheep are supposed to be and I probably never will. It’s a bit like theatre with lots of unwritten rules, but it’s a democracy; you just have to find a space where you agree on 90%. Everyone then avoids the 10% and you lead a good life. That’s been forgotten in our political system today and I imagine it’s been forgotten in a lot of brand-based collaborations.

And I’d say a lot of brand collaborations in the theatre space follow pretty closely to the source material, telling the same story with actors dressed as the characters. It must be great to be able to grapple with Shaun the Sheep in a way that remains true to what you guys do?
Yes, and Shaun the Sheep has had some good stage adaptations, but none have come close to being as popular as the movies or the TV show. The reason for that is people are trying to do Shaun the Sheep as the TV show on stage and there’s a limitation to that. We’re creating a fantasia. It’s a bizarre, lethally post-modern riff on Shaun the Sheep, and it’s bonkers.

The TV show is bonkers, and in the episodes, they go to amazing places. I love that about it and we knew we wanted to push the boundaries. Not only was Aardman up for it, they encouraged us and that was a great place to start from.

I really want to see this now Yaron; I hope it comes to the UK.
Oh, it’ll come to the UK. You guys are clearly a key audience for us.

Brill, count me in. Before I let you go, I wanted to ask how you personally fuel your own creativity?
I’m not particularly a creative person. I like solving problems and I like triangulating things. To be honest, I look around and I see 60 staff – my family – who need their mortgage paid, and I think ‘I better not fuck this up’. From there, whatever it takes not to fuck it up is what I need to do. I wish I had a more interesting answer!

I’d argue problem solving is its own form of creativity, but you’re right, not wrecking something is pretty good fuel!
Fear is a very good driver, and so is doubt. I like to start every project with ‘let’s not fuck this up’ and finish it with ‘we fooled them again!’ We’re not going to make masterpieces with every show we make. We have to be respectful of the difficulty of the thing we’re doing. We have to have enough love for its force and its nobility to know that we can’t make it all amazing; that’s never going to happen. It’s not an excuse, it’s a drive to do better. As Beckett said: ‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ That’s the experience. If you don’t finish a show with a burning desire about what’s coming next, you’re either very good or, more than likely, not very good.

Well, I’m convinced you won’t have messed this up because the way you’ve spoken about Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show, it sounds like a winner. Good luck with it, I can’t wait to check it out, and a huge thanks again Yaron for taking the time to chat today.
Thanks mate, much appreciated.

Yaron main image credit: Margot Taylor

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The Shaun the Sheep update welcomes branded rides, character statues and various Shaun the Sheep-themed attractions.

“Much like RollerCoaster Tycoon, Aardman is a well-loved brand with years of global prestige; it’s a brand that fans can count on to bring fun and endlessly charming characters to whatever they work on,” said Tony Chien, VP Marketing of Atari.

“This partnership allows us to bring a fresh yet well-known face to RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch. We are thrilled to share all of the creatively themed content that the world of Shaun the Sheepoffers to our fans.”

Adam Vincent-Garland, Category Manager, Interactive and Toys, Aardman, added: “RollerCoaster Tycoon is one of one the world’s most recognized and established amusement park building game franchise.

“Shaun the Sheep attractions have been entertaining families across the globe for years, so it only made sense to bring Shaun to the beloved mobile game. Players will be flocking to customise their parks with new and hilarious rides and attractions featuring everyone’s favourite fuzzy friend!”

Check out the game in action below:

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