Aurélia’s Oratorio and its charming and whimsical visual tricks were born out of a family tradition of performance—Aurélia’s mother, Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, created the show for her, and her father, Jean-Baptiste, came up with the title. As children, Aurélia and her brother James performed as insects, magicians and walking suitcases in their parents’ innovative small-top circuses Le Cirque Imaginaire and Le Cirque Invisible. This family tradition of performance continues to reach back across the generations—Aurélia is the great-granddaughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill and the granddaughter of innovator, film actor and director Charlie Chaplin.
Aurélia says, “We play around with ideas whenever we meet as a family. It’s our way of communicating and staying together….With your family you don’t have to be polite or try to seduce or discover how to communicate. You go straight to the point.”
We invite you to share YOUR family traditions. What helps your family stay connected? How did your family traditions get started and how long have you been doing them? If you were to introduce a new family tradition, what would it be?
American Repertory Theater 