10 Best Circus Acts of 2023

From big stunts to quirky moments, and the funny to the thrilling, here are the ten best things that I saw in a British big top in 2023. 

10 Nia Nikolova Jones, Treadmill, Circus Funtasia

Sometimes the simplest things are the best. I'm not sure if Nia walking on a treadmill to Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 really counts as an 'act'. It's the lead-in to her juggling routine. But it's such a fun and engaging moment, and such an original use of a prop, that it really did steal the show. 

9 Whip-cracking, Circus Cortex, Kingdom of Winter

The front row of a circus is always a dangerous place to be. You might get water-pistoled by a clown, or conscripted into an act. But ringside was never scarier than at Circus Cortex's Christmas show, when the whip-cracker's female assistant stood right against the ring fence, a couple of feet from the audience and held up playing cards that were sliced in half by her whip-cracking partner. She then went through the fence and stood among the audience while he sliced straws in half. People were literally fleeing their seats for safer parts of the big top! But that's what the circus should be: dangerously exciting!

8 High-wire, Circus Vegas

Circus Vegas opened their show with a big act: a male and female high-wire duo. The crowd-wowing finale saw the female wire-walker stand on her partner's shoulders for a long and precarious descent of a sloping wire to the ground.

7 Kevin Kevin, Ringmaster, Big Kid Circus

Ringmasters are becoming a rare sight, with many shows opting for off-stage announcements or no introductions at all. But Kevin Kevin (yep, he's a double Kevin) really helps to engage the audience in the acts, especially during the opening flying trapeze act (notable for a flyer flying blindfolded and a climatic head-first drop to the net) when his commentary built up expectations for each trick. Ringmaster should be one of the safer circus acts, but Britain's first black ringmaster took his life in his hands by standing amid the circling motorbikes in the Globe of Death. He was also the assistant in a magic trick, vanishing from the cabinet before La Loka the clown shoved a set of metal spikes through it.

6 Mr Popol and Kakehole, Kakehole's Taxi, Snowstorm 3

You can't beat a clown car, and Britain's best-dressed clowns did a hilarious version of the taxi routine on the ice rink of Manchester's Trafford Centre. The climax saw the back of the car fall off, ejecting Popol, then pulling off his trousers as it left the arena. (read my review of Snowstorm 3 here)

5 Motorbike globe-jumping, Circus Zyair

I'd rather watch motorbikes jumping over a globe of death than spinning inside it. It's an incredibly powerful and unexpected sight to see a motorbike roaring high in the air in the indoor environment of a big top. I first saw the leaping bikes at Circus Extreme, and their bikes still probably go highest, because they have the headroom. A similar display caused a wow at Planet Circus. But there was something particularly raw about seeing the stunt performed in the relatively small space of the Circus Zyair tent. Rather than a climax to the act, they also used the the leaps as an entrance, with each biker leaping over the globe before joining his teammates inside it.

4 Laura Miller, Hoop and water plunge, Circus Extreme

Half aerialist and half mermaid, Miller's act involves being periodically plunged into a tank of water, then hoisted high into the roof of Britain's biggest big top to strike poses on a hoop with the water spraying off her. The climax saw the surface of the water set on fire, turning the tank into an inferno. The crowd let out a collective gasp as Miller abruptly let go of the hoop and plunged several body lengths into the water, the splash extinguishing the flames. (you can read my review of Circus Extreme here)

3 BMX Bikes, Cirque Berserk, Winter Wonderland

In a high-octane show as a whole, the real edge-of-the-seat moment had to be a biker standing up on his front wheel and hopping over the limbs of a lady laying in a star shape on the ground, missing her by inches. (read my review of Cirque Berserk here)

2 Duo Stefaneli, Quick change, Planet Circus

The Duo Stefaneli performed a truly death-defying series of hangs from a flying saucer trapeze bar during one of their acts at Planet Circus. But it was their other act, a fun and frothy quick change routine that stole the show, thanks to their personal chemistry, charisma and probably the catchiest music in any big top this year. In a business that is good at producing 'acts' but rarely produces 'stars', as in personalities we can identify as individuals, rather than by what they do, these two have real star power. (read my review of Planet Circus here)

1 Alex the Fireman, revolving ladder, Circus Fantasia

Earlier in the year I posted about Alexandru Lupu under the heading, Is This The Best Circus Act In The UK Today? (You can read it here) And although I've seen many great acts since, none has beaten it. Mixing slapstick and thrills, fire and water, Alex spinning perilously on his ladder is the best bit of physical comedy since the great stunts of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd in the days of silent film. Alex the Fireman isn't just the best act in the circus today, he's a one-man circus!

Alex the Fireman
Photo credit: Bina Fellowes Photography

 

Review: Planet Circus OMG

What makes a great circus moment? Sometimes it's a big stunt. Sometimes it's something funny and quirky. Planet Circus OMG! has both, and so does the Duo Stefaneli (pictured above).

I first saw the Duo Stefaneli when I was writing my book, Circus Mania. They were appearing in the Great British Circus in the year that it presented the last elephants to appear in a British big top. In an animal-heavy programme that included the tigers of Martin Lacey Sr, they formed the main acrobatic act, performing daring hangs from a trapeze bar beneath a hovering flying saucer.

In the book, I wrote: "It's hard to imagine a more thrilling form of entertainment than Stefan and Neli deliver."

So it was good to see them back with their flying saucer at Planet Circus this year.

The act seemed higher in the truly towering Planet Circus big top and much better lit, too, with lasers flickering around their alien-themed act.

For me, though, the true highlight of the show was their other act, a quick change routine in which the couple repeatedly changed outfits while momentarily concealed in a raised fabric tube.

Circus acts go in and out of fashion, and quick change seemed to be the flavour of the season on the circus scene in 2023. There were similar acts at Big Kid Circus and Santus Circus this year. The one at Santus was particularly well thought out, being staged as a couple choosing their outfits for a night out.

But the Duo Stefaneli gave it a special charm, thanks to infectious electro-Latin dance music and the couple's natural charisma. 

The climax saw Stefan tip an umbrella full of golden glitter over Neli's head. She twirled once in the sparkling downpour and was changed into a new dress before our eyes - a truly amazing illusion! 

If I were them, I would do more of that sort of comedy magic. Not only is it safer than dangling by an ankle and wrist from a flying saucer, but I would say it is a much more engaging, entertaining and memorable act.

Another of the show's most engaging moments was Lukinha the Clown using a balloon 'bow' to fire an invisible arrow at a balloon held above the head of a volunteer from the audience. With everyone watching Lukinha, only the keenest eyed spectator would have noticed German Wheel performer Krisztian lurking in the shadows off stage and reaching out with a pin on the end of a long pole to burst the target balloon at the right moment!

Speaking of little things that make a big impact, Jenny Glowacki performed an energetic cloud swing routine to a Celtic rock soundtrack. Cloud swing is another of those in fashion acts that every circus seemed to have this year, and it's a stirring act in its own right. What set Jenny's apart, was her spontaneous shouts of "Whoo!" conveying her unbridled exuberance at swinging through the air. She looked and sounded as excited as a kid on a park swing - and that level of energy was infectious.

The wild look on her face when she finally descended to the ground was a picture.

An element of personality and engagement with the audience is often missing from circus acts. We may marvel at the feats performed, but we seldom come away remembering the performer as a person. It's why circus has very few star names, individuals who would draw an audience in their own right. Throughout history there has been no more than a handful, and they tend to be clowns, such as Charlie Cairoli, or the present day's Danny Adams, who has been the main draw in the pantomime at the Newcastle Theatre Royal for the past ten years.

Performers like Jenny Glowacki and the Duo Stefanali bring a little bit more personality to their routines than most, and I wish more performers would.

A performer who combined the big with the quirky was juggler and strong man, Iran. Juggling hoops and clubs is one thing, but watching a man hurling three heavy car tyres high into the air is truly the sort of unusual sight that you go to a circus to see.

Not content with that, he then lay down while a monster truck with blaring horns and headlights was driven over his chest. Now that is circus!

The truck was a star in its own right. When I first saw the Duo Stefaneli at the Great British Circus, you could have your photo taken with an elephant during the interval. At Planet Circus, interval photos were with the big red truck.

Top of the bill was a Globe of Death - an act that I feel has been in fashion a few seasons too long. The first time I ever saw one, it was impressive. But every circus seems to drag one out at the end of the night these days. Even with five illuminated bikes buzzing around inside the spherical cage, like a bunch of angry trapped wasps, as we had here, I find it a bit done to death, and even tiresome.

Luckily, the huge height of the Planet Circus tent allows them to go further with a finale of motorbikes racing into the tent, hitting a ramp and flying over the globe, before landing somewhere beyond the ring doors. It's a truly heart-stopping stunt to witness at an indoor show and one that I think is only being done elsewhere at Circus Extreme (read my review here) as few circuses have a tall enough tent to accommodate it. 

The flying bikes justify the OMG! in the title, although I would prefer them to just have the stunt bikes and not the globe riders. Maybe they could do other things in the show, like jumping through a fiery hoop or leaping over the monster truck. Or maybe a line of them running over Iran.

The bits I will remember, though, are the Duo Stefaneli's quick change routine, Lukinha's balloon bow and arrow and Jenny Glowacki's "Whoo!"s on the cloud swing. 

Planet Circus OMG! will be presenting its Christmas Spectacular at the Lincolnshire Showground, 12 December to 2 January. For more info click here.