Edinburgh Fringe Gets Circus Hub But I’d Rather See Some Lions

Zippos star Norman Barrett OBE and his budgies

Circus is in fashion. A certain type of circus, anyway. Two years ago, Britain’s leading circus school attained ‘national’ status when it became the National Centre for Circus Arts. This year, the Edinburgh Fringe will get a £600,000 dedicated Circus Hub that will bring twelve contemporary circus shows to the Scottish city from as far afield as Canada, Australia and the Czech Republic.

According to Ed Bartlam of promoters Underbelly, “We want to create a real focal hub for the very broad genre that is circus and in that present a really high-quality programme of different styles.”

So it was sad to see Bartlam’s co-director Charlie Wood sweepingly dismissing the biggest part of circus’ ‘broad genre,’ and a part that represents nearly 250 years of circus history, in an interview with The Guardian.

“Circus is not necessarily cliched, hack, silly stuff in a big tent,” said Wood. “We’ve tried to get away from the old understanding of what circus is – nasty big tops and animals and hack clowns and so on. Circus can mean something, it can have a narrative, it can be theatrical and it can have fantastic skills in it.”

During the research for my book Circus Mania, I experienced what is indeed the ‘broad genre’ of circus, from the big budget spectacle of Cirque du Soleil to the blood-splattered Circus of Horrors and small scale companies such as Australia's Circa which is more typical of the type of circus found of the festival circuit (you can see Circa at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival later this month).

There’s no doubt that modern circus can be good. Of the acts appearing at the Circus Hub, Canada’s Cirque Alfonse wowed London in 2013 with the hugely accessible and enjoyable lumberjack circus, Timber! (Click here to read about it)

But, sad to say, much ‘narrative’ and ‘theatrical’ contemporary circus has left me yawning. In trying to “mean something,’ it has frequently lost circus’ most vital element, it’s sense of fun.

The magic of the big top

It was my visits to the sort of traditional big top-in-a-field circuses that Wood decries that made my heart beat faster, brought my senses most fully alive and imprinted me with memories that I’ll never forget. Sitting ringside at the now defunct Great British Circus, with grass underfoot and the smell of hotdogs and horses in the air, I marvelled at the immensity of elephants, swishing their trunks about to sniff the scent of the popcorn machine, so close that I leaned back in my seat. The skill and artistry of the tiger trainer was as compelling as that of the acrobats on the static trapeze.

At the still very much extant Circus Mondao, which is run by a family that has been in the circus 200 years, I was transported to a magical plane by the sight of plumed spotted horses cantering through the atmospherically lit sawdust; and reduced to helpless laughter by a soaking wet clown sliding the full diameter of the ring on his belly in a tsunami of spilt water.

Animals and genuinely funny traditional clowns are things contemporary circus would rather forget, but in turning its back on them, in the way Wood does so crassly, it loses its soul and, I would dare to say, a lot of its pulling power. For it’s the traditional circuses that have always existed on box office takings alone while most new circus relies on sponsorship and public funding.

Tsavo, a Chipperfield lion

Last year, only one circus, the deeply traditional Peter Jolly’s, fielded an act I was prepared to drive half way across the country to see: Thomas Chipperfield presenting the last lions and tigers we may ever see in a British big top. No contemporary circus show would have tempted me to travel a fraction of that distance.

The big cats were a roaring success, but predictably attracted roars of disapproval from animal rights protesters. With a long-promised ban on wild animals in the circus looming over our big tops, it seems even traditional circuses would rather go quietly into the night than rage against the dying of the circus lights.

This year, no UK circus has big cats or elephants and the biggest part of circus’ appeal, for me, seems to have left the big top with them.

Zippos, arguably Britain's most popular circus, continues to use its ring for the purpose for which it was designed - the display of horses - and long may they continue to do so. They also have ringmaster Norman Barrett OBE's performing budgies. It was a shame to see the Guardian's article on the Circus Hub take a swipe at them, too: "Circus in 2015 is far removed from memories of doleful clowns squirting water from a flower, sequinned trapeze acts, and Norman Barrett and his performing budgerigars. It’s more physical, edgy and sexy,"  writes Mark Brown.

I'd rather see some lions. But given the choice between Barrett's budgies and one of the 'circus' shows on the Hub's programme, which is thrillingly billed as "A poetic search for inner peace and the liberation of prejudice," I'll take the the budgies.

Read my backstage and ringside journey through the rich and diverse world of circus, talking to showmen, clowns, trapeze artists, sword-swallowers and tiger trainers in Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away With The Circus.
Click here to read the 5-star reviews on Amazon.

Cirque Bijou brings exciting new show Source to London this summer. Artristic director Billy Alwen talks about it.

They say you shouldn't judge a book by the cover, and perhaps you shouldn't judge a circus by its elevator speech. But some shows simply have a concept that instantly makes you think, hey, that sounds good, I'd like to see that; while the blurb for others can be an instant turn off.

Last year's Timber! by Cirque Alfonse was the perfect example of a show with a winning premise. Its two-word description, "lumberjack circus," tells you everything you need to know, and there's an obvious link between the theme and circus' repertoire of tricks: Russian bar performed on planks, juggling with axes, jumping through barrel hoops, whip cracking... Throw in a photo of bearded performers in long johns and braces and you can tell the show will be a hoot - which it was. (Click here for more)

This year's production of Rime by Square Peg has a similarly strong concept. I haven't seen the show, so can't say how well it realises Coolridge's epic poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but it's easy to imagine how naturally a story set on a sailing ship might translate to an open-air circus show with performers swinging about on ropes and masts.

The latest show with a theme that's really caught my eye is Source, a new street circus show by Cirque Bijou. The concept?

When London’s sewers and underground system were first created, six tunnellers were sent underground in a secret mission to find and save the sources of London’s rivers before they became buried forever. Now, 158 years later, during building works for London’s new super-sewer, these curious long-forgotten tunnellers emerge, travelling with their giant mobile water-spurting laboratory in a burst of song, dance and acrobatic displays. 

According to artistic director Billy Alwen: "I’d had the idea for a while about doing a show about hidden underground rivers in London. I think people often forget that these rivers exist. Some of them have been concreted over and some have been diverted underground. I thought it was a very rich theme, particularly as there are plans at this point in time to completely renew the sewer system under London at huge expense, and there’s a whole discussion about why that needs to happen. I wanted to bring the under world back above the ground.

"We made seven human powered machines for the Olympics and because they cost a fair amount to make, we always said we wanted to use them again. So one of them is going to be re-used as our tunnelling machine. So this machine will effectively be the stage, the set and the PA system for the show. All the circus will happen around that machine, and then that machine will travel around from one venue to the other. 

"Circus is very difficult to put on outdoors with all the rigging you need for trapeze, so I wanted to make a show that was self-contained and didn’t need lots of rigs and equipment. We wanted to be able to put one plug into the wall and be ready to go."

If the above whets your appetite, you can catch Source free of charge in the following London locations:

Millfield Arts Centre 26th July

Tara Arts 16th August

Harrow Arts Centre 23rd August

Arts Depot 30th August

Watermans 13th September

The Albany 4th October

Cirque Bijou light up the sky
suspended from a crane.

Cirque Bijou, incidentally, is a company with a small name and a penchant for BIG stunts, such as flying UFOs above the audience and marching giant robots across the stage at Muse concerts. Their outdoor crane shows, featuring trapeze artists tumbling within giant hoops of fire while fireworks whiz all around them are truly spectacular.

Definitely a circus company to look out for.

"I loved this book."
- 5-star Amazon customer
review

For more on narrative circus and the ways circus and theatre can be merged to great effect - or not, as is the case with some shows - read my journey through Britain's ever changing, never changing circus scene, from traditional big top and sawdust shows to the Circus of Horrors, musical clowns The Chipolatas, Spain's Circ Panic, Australia's Circa and all stops in between, in Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus.

Click here to read the customer reviews on Amazon.

Timber! - the lumberjack circus is a show to fall for!

Cirque Alfonse
- Circus hillbilly style!

A circus needs something new and different to pull a crowd. Even if the newness is just the refreshingly different way an old trick is dressed up, a show has to give us something we haven’t seen before, and can’t see anywhere else, or else why should we buy a ticket?


Zippos is currently cleaning up in Scotland with Nicky de Neumann’s Roman horse riding. Now that’s something Andrew Ducrow was doing in Victorian times - and the Romans were doing 2000 years ago! But, hey, you’re not going to see it anywhere else in the UK today, so the prospect of seeing Nicky recreating such a powerful piece of old circus in a modern big top is something to get excited about.

Cirque du Soleil revolutionised circus in the 80s with a style of presentation we hadn’t seen before. But too many ‘new circus’ companies that have tried to grab a bit of Soleil’s sunshine have lost sight of the novelty factor that circus needs. In search of art, they’re often dowdy and straight-faced to the point where even their posters look dull.

Timber!
- fun in the barn!

Timber! by Canada's Cirque Alfonse, however, has got the novelty element spot on. The very concept of a lumberjack circus makes you sit up and think, wow, that will be different - and it is!

Imagine all your favourite circus tricks transplanted to a barn, with hillbilly music and bearded performers in braces and long-johns (or, to save your imagination, just Google their promo video on YouTube). Here we have Russian bar on freshly sawn planks, juggling with axes, hoop jumping through steel barrel hoops, whip-cracking (naturally) and even some running on rolling logs.

It all adds up to a barrel-load of homespun fun and the critics have been loving it, even if some hacks couldn’t resist pointing out that at 90 minutes in length the show could so with some, well... chopping.

Timber! is at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s South Bank until July 31, before heading to Europe on tour. Go down and give them a big yee-hah!