The Generating Company

The Generating Company founder, Paul Cockle, was Production Manager for the Millennium Dome Show directed by Peter Gabriel, Mark Fisher and Micha Bergese, in 1998 to create a show for the Millennium Experience, an exhibition hosted at the Millennium Dome to welcome the third millennium.[1] The team turned to Circus Space, now the National Centre for Circus Arts, which was the first centre in the UK to offer a degree in circus arts. With little more than a year until opening night, Circus Space formed an accredited programme and trained 87 aerial performers for the Dome show.[2]

The Dome show premiered on New Year's Eve, 1999.[1] While the Dome itself was mired in controversy and financial woes, the show opened to critical success.[3][4] With only a year-long contract at the Dome,[3] many of the show's performers considered a return to Circus Space to continue their careers. When the show closed at the end of 2000, about 20 of the performers returned to Circus Space to form The Generating Company, a small traveling company that retained many of the characteristics of the original Dome performance.

Following their success at the Dome and Circus Space, The Generating Company received a £70,000 grant from the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts and grants from the Arts Council England to begin a touring company.[1] After a local show, Storm, performed at Circus Space in Hoxton, The Generating Company began pursuing a "fusion of professional training with an extended performance contract linked to future touring opportunities."[5] It opened its first school in 2002, offering summer courses devised for children interested in circus skills. It also hosted programs at Trinity Buoy Wharf through 2009.[6]

In 2008, The Generating Company moved the majority of its professional schooling and develop a creative centre at Le Buisson-de-Cadouin, France. Paul Cockle explained that setting up the company in France offered the chance to develop a residential centre where artists can live and work together. The Generating Company still has administration offices in London but its core operation is based in France.