LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS... welcome to the big top blog of Douglas McPherson, author of CIRCUS MANIA, the book described by Gerry Cottle as "A passionate and up-to-date look at the circus and its people."

Monday 22 April 2024

When Circus Stunts Go Wrong


A YouTube video of Gandeys Circus' latest production, Hollywood, has captured a moment when a flying trapeze act went wrong.

A flyer's fall to the net is followed by a loud crash as the net appears to become untethered from its anchor point.

It clearly wasn't the scheduled end of the act, but instead of making a second attempt at the somersault, the flyer quietly exited the ring, followed by the rest of the troupe, who descended from their platforms via rope ladders instead of the traditional drop to the net, which had apparently been disabled.

Nobody was hurt, and the show continued without any mention of the incident. But it was clearly a near thing that could have been a lot worse - and a reminder of the danger involved in every circus act.

Big top accidents are rare, thanks to the skill and practice of the performers and their scrupulous attention to safety.

But when things do go wrong, it can be fatal.

My book Circus Mania was inspired by my interview with aerialist Eva Garcia, just days before she fell to her death during a performance at the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome.

It was the start of my journey into a canvas-covered world of sword-swallowers puncturing their throats and tiger trainers mauled by their animals as I sought to discover why circus artists risk their necks twice daily for our entertainment.




Sunday 21 April 2024

Circus Girl Power!


What an iconic picture this is, capturing the strength, pride, optimism and exhilaration of the circus performer and the circus itself! It looks like the Rosie the Riveter of the circus world.

In fact, it is strong-woman Aoife Raleigh, one of the stars of Daring Dames, Europe's only all-female circus festival, which takes place on Achill Island, off the coast of County Mayo in Ireland from 24 - 26 May.

Promising a packed programme of indoor and outdoor, day and evening performances in a variety of venues, including a trapeze rig set up beside the ocean, plus talks and discussions on issues affecting women in the circus, the whole event is completely free to attend.

For more information Daring Dames visit www.circus250.com 

Friday 19 April 2024

Happy World Circus Day!



To me, this picture of British Cirque du Soleil star Lucie Colebeck (taken by Ollie Colebeck on stage at the Royal Albert Hall this January) really captures the wonder of the circus.

I recently interviewed Lucie for a forthcoming magazine story, and what a story it is! Part sports drama, part theatrical tale and part love story, mixed together with the Montreal magic of the world's biggest circus company.

Stay tuned!



 

Thursday 18 April 2024

The Circus Funtasia Story


From knife-thrower's assistant to ringmaster, Tracy Jones reveals how she ran away with the circus as a teenager and set up her own Big Top.

There aren’t many jobs in which the new girl gets knives thrown at her by the boss. But standing in front of a target while circus owner Phillip Gandey threw blades that hammered home within inches of her was Tracy Jones’ baptism of fire into life in the big top.

“I trusted him completely,” says Tracy, who ran away with the circus as a 16-year-old and today is ringmaster of her own show, Circus Funtasia. “I think because I was young, I didn’t have much fear. I’d try anything.”

Growing up in a tiny Welsh village, Tracy had no idea that a life of spotlights and sequins awaited her.

When she was 15, she took a weekend job looking after the horses of local stunt rider Gerard Naprous, who went on to work on films such as Rob Roy and TV series Game of Thrones

One summer, Gerard announced that he was joining Gandey’s Circus for a short engagement and Tracy went with him as horse groom.

“I didn’t even know what a circus was!” she laughs. “We were meant to be there for four weeks, but I loved it so much that I went home and said, ‘Mum, I’m going to join the circus.’ Mum was mortified. She tried to talk me out of it, but my heart was set. I packed my bag, they put me on a train and off I went. Later on, once my parents had visited the show and seen what it was about, they loved it.”

One of Tracy’s first jobs was parading around the ring with a snake draped around her shoulders.

“I was a little bit scared of snakes,” Tracy confesses. “But you get used to it. Then people start to teach you things. I learned a bit of trapeze, and trick riding on horses.”

Her speciality became twirling and throwing poses on a vertical rope called the corde lisse.

“Now I'm a ringmistress and stay firmly on the ground,” Tracy adds.

As well as travelling all over the UK, Tracy performed across the globe in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai.

In 2000, Tracy was touring with Gandey’s sister show, Circus Starr, a non-profit organisation that gives all its tickets away to ill or disadvantaged children as well as raising money for hospices and women’s refuges.

It was there that she met her partner Julio, a member of a visiting Bulgarian acrobatic troupe.

The danger with circus romances is that couples will be separated at the end of the season as work takes them to different shows and different countries. Tracy and Julio decided that wasn’t going to happen to them.

“As soon as we got together, I knew that wherever he was going to go, I was going to go and vice versa,” Tracy says.

At the end of the season, Julio joined the circus full time as a tent master, so they could stay together.

Julio’s skill at building and moving the big top came in handy when he and Tracy decided to start Circus Funtasia 10 years ago.

“We said if we can get a loan from the bank we’ll open a circus and if we can’t, we’ll carry on working for other people,” Tracy recalls. “We got the loan, and that money went very quickly, buying seats and a few vehicles.”



Their first show was in the Staffordshire village of Penkridge and was a box office disaster.

“We died!” Tracy laughs. “We didn’t do very much business because we didn’t do the postering right, we didn’t do the publicity right. We were very naive, but we learned as we went along and it gradually picked up.”

Tracy’s daughter, Nia, has been part of the show since she was four.

“She’d go in the ring with her dad’s troupe and dance with them. Then he’d pick her up and do a jump with her. She loved it,” says her proud mum.

Now 19, Nia is the show’s juggler. She also edits the show’s music and programs the lighting effects.

Nia’s most daring feat is standing inside the Globe of Death while a motorbike loops the loop all around her, missing her by inches. 

Travelling from town to town with a circus is unlike any other branch of show business, says Tracy, who lives beside her big top in a 52-foot-long wagon that she likens to an apartment on wheels.

“We all do everything. We’re in the ring one minute, selling popcorn the next, then pulling down the tent in wellies and overalls after that. The worst things are the rain and mud. The best thing is the audience. You can’t beat the feeling they give you at the end of the show.

“It’s a way of life, but it’s a wonderful and exciting way of life. It’s very sociable, like one big family. Especially in the summer. Everyone sits outside together. We have barbecues. It’s lovely.”

Her plans for the next 10 years? “Just to keep going and enjoy every minute of it.”


For more tales of life in the big top, read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book for Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away With The Circus.

 

Wednesday 17 April 2024

Alexis Gruss, 1944 - 2024 - Farewell to a Knight of the French Circus

Alexis Gruss and wife Gipsy in one of his final visits to the ring

The death of French showman Alexis Gruss on 6 April highlights the difference in how circus is viewed on the other side of the Channel.

No English showman has ever been knighted. The Victorian impresarios Sir Robert Fossett and Lord George Sanger adopted those titles themselves.

France, by contrast, made Gruss a Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters and a Knight of the Legion of Honour.

When he died, his contribution to the arts was praised by French minister of culture Rachida Dati.

I don't recall any member of the British government marking the recent passing of English showmen Phillip Gandey and Gerry Cottle, despite their huge contribution to entertainment worldwide.

British circuses, meanwhile, have all but completely removed animals, including horses, from their rings - Giffords Circus being a rare exception in preserving the equine spirit of Philip Astley's first circus, 250 years ago.

Gruss, by contrast, built his fame on horseback.

In 1974, he founded Cirque à l’ancienne – ‘the Old Fashioned Circus’ – to mark the bicentenary of Astley’s first circus in Paris.

Eschewing the wild animal acts that had come to dominate circuses elsewhere, he returned the circus to its roots, with a focus on horsemanship, clowning and acrobatics.

The latest edition of his family's show, les Folies Gruss, is titled 50 Years in Paris, and is as dominated by horse acts as it ever was, with no less than 50 horses passing through the ring.

Among the artists are Gruss's grandsons, Charles and Alexandre, who won a Gold Clown at this year's Monte Carlo Circus Festival with their juggling on horseback.

Astley, who was buried in Paris, would be proud.

Horses and sawdust at les Folies Gruss in 2024


 

Saturday 23 March 2024

Big Kid Circus presents Europe's only all-female Globe of Death


"For the first time ever, in any circus in the UK..." Those are the words you want to hear, bellowed through the air in a big top

The new, the original, the unique. Those are the commodities that the circus has always thrived on. That is what will get you rolling up to a big top to see: something you can't see anywhere else.

In this case, ringmaster Kevin Kevin (yep, he was so good they named him twice) was introducing this year's new season attraction to Big Kid Circus: Europe's only all-female Globe of Death riders.




The globe of death is itself nothing new. In some recent reviews, I complained of seeing too many of them, with one closing almost every circus.

But there are ways to refresh the act, with bikes leaping over the globe at Circus Extreme, Circus Zyair and Planet Circus (read my review here).

The all-female trio at Big Kid provides another welcome twist, and one likely to generate something that circuses depend on: news coverage.

My preview of the Daring Dames Festival - Europe's only all-female circus festival looked at how some circus disciplines such as clowning and strongman have traditionally been almost exclusively male preserves - and how a new generation of women is now venturing into those areas.

The Globe of Death is definitely one such male dominated arena, making Big Kid's women motorcyclists remarkable.

The troupe comprises Julia from the UK, Vanessa from Brazil and Ronica from Iraq.

You can see their death-defying display on Big Kid Circus' next stop in Brent Cross.








 

Thursday 21 March 2024

RIP Fred Van Buren and Greta


Fred Van Buren and his wife and assistant Connie Greta (pictured above) put the magic in the circus - literally.

Performing in the circus rings of Gandey's, Fossett's and Chipperfields', Van Buren developed a style of illusion that could be viewed from any angle in-the-round. There was no back to his props that the audience couldn't see.

His most famous stunt was the Vanishing Motorcycle and Rider, while completely surrounded.

Van Buren's fame led to TV appearances including the David Nixon Show and Seaside Special. He was personally chosen by Walt Disney to create magic effects for Snow White on Ice at Wembley, and was an adviser on The Muppet Show.

Since Fred and Connie's retirement from the stage in 1997, the family tradition of spectacular illusions has been continued by their son, Andrew Van Buren.

Fred Van Buren was 91 when he passed away on 6 March this year, Connie having predeceased him in 2020. 





 

Tuesday 27 February 2024

Philip Astley Centre opens in Newcastle-under-Lyme to celebrate the Father of the Circus.


More than 250 years ago, Philip Astley invented the circus as we know it today. Two and a half centuries later, on 9 March, a Philip Astley Centre opened in his hometown of Newcastle-under-Lyme to celebrate his legacy as the original greatest showman.

Giving new life to a formerly derelict shop, the Staffordshire visitor centre will host exhibitions, talks and circus workshops.

Astley was born in the town in 1742 and fought in the Seven Years War before using his equestrian skill to establish the first circus ring, in London in 1768.

The 42-ft diameter circle in which he performed tricks on horseback became the standard size of a circus ring throughout the world to this day. He also added acrobats, strongmen, clowns and novelty acts to his equestrian displays to create the variety show nature of a traditional circus show.

The Philip Astley Centre is the brainchild of magician Andrew Van Buren, who described it as "a necessary and long awaited addition to the town infrastructure, providing a chance for visitors to learn about and experience the Astley legacy through access to exhibitions, archives, and related physical skills."

For more information, visit www.philipastley.org.uk






 

Sunday 18 February 2024

Cirque du Soleil breaks world records in London


Setting world records has long been a way for circuses to gain publicity, whether it was the Chinese State Circus balancing the most performers on a bike or the Circus of Horrors suspending the most people over the Thames in a 'human mobile'.

Cirque du Soleil took time out from its current run at the Royal Albert Hall to clock up two new entries into Guinness World of Records.

The UK's Lucie Colebeck, above left, set a new record for 36 back handsprings on a trampoline in 30 seconds.

In the show, she normally does five in a row. Doing so many continuously "felt like flying," she said.

Mongolia's Oyun-Erdene Senge beat her previous record of 21 with 24 contortion roll push-ups in 30 seconds.

What's a contortion roll push-up? First you get yourself into the position in the picture, above right, then you do push-ups!

Easy, right? Well, it is for Senge who said, "I've been doing these push-ups since I was six-years-old. It's part of my daily life."

Cirque du Soleil's show Algeria is at the Royal Albert Hall until 3 March.