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: Snow Storm 3 - Northern Lights

Phillip Gandey's name may not be as widely known as, say, Gerry Cottle, Billy Smart or the Chipperfield family. But that's only because, apart from his eponymous Gandey's Circus, which he inherited from his father, he didn't put his name in the title of the many shows he created. 

The Chinese State Circus, for example, was one of the most-attended circuses to tour the UK since the early 90s. But China didn't have a state circus. The show was created and named by Phillip Gandey. He has had equally long-running success with The Lady Boys of Bangkok, in which he took a traditional form of Thai cabaret and adapted it to British tastes with contemporary pop music. His other big successes include Spirit of the Horse and Cirque Surreal - both of which may have been attended by many who didn't associate the shows with his name.

With his ex-wife Carol Gandey, he in fact headed the world's second-biggest producer of circus entertainment after Cirque du Soleil

At the time of Gandey's untimely death, aged just 67, on 12 December 2023, he was responsible for the Great Circus of Europe, at that time playing in the Arab Emirates, and Snow Storm 3, at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. 

Snow Storm 3 was a fine show with which to bow out. Perhaps more of an ice show than a circus, it's an ideal confection for Christmas. With a non-stop soundtrack of yuletide favourites, including Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, All I Want For Chrismas is You, Walking In The Air and Fairy Tale of New York, it fills its frozen rink with a swirl of highly skilled ice dancers, in duos and large-scale groups, dressed in a different outfit for each number.

But it's also held in a big top and features a strong circus element.

Britain's best-dressed clown, Mr Popol (Paul Carpenter) opens the proceedings in his glittering purple costume and tall hat, playing White Christmas on trumpet.

Later in the show, Mr Popol is joined by his regular auguste, Kakehole (Chris Freear) in a couple of classic clown routines. The funniest one involves Kakehole's comedy car, licence plate URA 1 (You are a one!).

Popol also shows his vocal talents, when he joins the ice dancers in a white wig to sing Mr White Christmas.

Elsewhere in the show, Phillip's daughter Hayley Gandey - a fourth generation ring star - performs an elegant cloud swing routine, including an audience-wowing upside down hang, after being driven on to the ice in another of no less than three comedy cars to appear in the show. The third mini-vehicle features in a topical pink-themed skating routine to the music from the movie smash of the year, Barbie.

The best mix of circus and ice comes from an aerialist introduced as Arina, who skates around the rink between rising into the air and assuming various poses on an umbrella-like prop with a hook-like handle - something seldom seen with a performer wearing ice skates.

A laser sequence recreates the Northern Lights of the title before a joyous ensemble finale to the arm-waving music of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.

When I interviewed Gandey for The Stage in 2020 he said:

“My ambition is to leave the company in a good position for our daughters to carry on. If I was given the choice of somewhere to finish, it would be watching one of our shows with a full house.”

I guess this would have been the sort of show he had in mind.

RIP Phillip Gandey, one of the world's greatest showmen.

Snow Storm 3 runs until 1 January.

 

Review: Big Apple Circus meets Circus Theatre Roncalli in New York City, 2023

2023 was the year that Ringling returned with The Greatest Show on Earth, its new animal-free spectacular (you can read my review here). Opening a new era for American circus, it was certainly the biggest show on Earth. 

In New York City, meanwhile, the Big Apple Circus has completely revamped its traditional Christmas stand by bringing to the Lincoln Centre one of the greatest shows in Europe, Circus Theatre Roncalli.

When I reviewed the Big Apple's offering last year (read it here) the procession of solo acts had a decidedly threadbare feel. While the acts themselves were good, there was no sense of a production, no razzmatazz. It certainly didn't look like the jewel in the world's jazziest city. Nor did it look like a show celebrating its 45th birthday, surely an occasion that deserved a bit of glitz. It looked more like a forgotten attraction barely hanging in after a decade of decline and bankruptcy - which, alas, it was.

The arrival of Circus Theatre Roncalli has changed that, and turned New York's resident big top into a must-see attraction once more. Ringling's arena show may be the biggest show on Earth, but Roncalli's one-ring show is undoubtedly the brightest, filling the tent with a non-stop swirl of colour and making a trip to the circus a truly theatrical event.

The immersive experience begins outside the main tent, with an adjacent circus museum full of pictures and costumes from Roncalli's and Big Apple's history. This is something that British circuses should really invest in. The Great Yarmouth Hippodrome has had a backstage museum for the past decade, and each of the travelling shows must have a wealth of old posters, props and costumes in storage. If they were presented in a separate tent beside the big top, the circuses could earn extra revenue with a token charge to walk through circus history in the way that they used to charge visitors to see the animals in the 'zoo' after the show.

In New York you can also buy a ticket to a VIP area where you can sip wine and have your picture taken with the performers while being serenaded by Roncalli's 8-piece jazz band.

Yes, Roncalli has a band! While most circuses these days rely on recorded music with a contemporary pop feel, Roncalli has a live band, seated on a balcony above the plush red ring doors. The music is distinctly old style - including a bit of the traditional circus music Entrance of the Gladiators - and helps to transport us into a dream-like circus world.

The music goes perfectly with the costumes worn by the artists, including traditional red circus tailcoats, and a team of half a dozen Broadway-style dancers whose dresses evoke a variety of eras, from Victorian vaudeville to the royal ballrooms of 17th century France.

The show is performed on a raised circular stage with no ring curb to create a barrier between the action and the audience. It begins with Angelo, an exquisitely costumed traditional white-face clown playing a saxophone while solemnly circling the stage.

The quiet opening captures our attention before the show suddenly bursts into life.

Two more clowns descend from the ceiling in a hot air balloon and basket. While the balloon is removed from the stage, a circus train comprising a small lorry and two huge circus wagons circle the perimeter.

The opening sequence sets up the loose theme of travel, reflected in the show's title, Journey to the Rainbow.

In keeping with the theme, a contortionist performs atop what looks like a tall but narrow ship's funnel. He then folds himself in two and slides down the inside of the tube and emerges from a door in the base.

Also on the travel theme, a cyclist pedals around the inside of a basket made from wooden slats that is hoisted into the air, swinging and swaying about like a lampshade, while he rides around the basket's sloping walls with nothing but an open hole beneath him.

It's not an act I've seen before, but America's No1 ring-watcher Showbiz David reported on one in his review of the Zoppe Italian Family Circus in sunny California a couple of months back (read his review here), so maybe it's a new trick coming into fashion (or perhaps it was the same performer). David wasn't impressed by what he called a "refreshing prop in search of a payoff." And it's true that it is a one-trick act. But in Roncalli's fast-moving programme it doesn't last long. It would definitely make a change to see such an act in a UK circus instead of the ubiquitous motorcycle Globe of Death (which isn't featured in the Roncalli ring).

While Ringling fields big acts, like a crisscrossing flying trapeze and a human cannonball in its big arena spaces, Roncalli goes for more intimate music hall-style acts. Emma Philips is one of the most entertaining foot-jugglers I have seen. Dressed as a vintage showgirl with a feather in her hat (she made her own costume, too) she spins a table atop her feet while spinning a parasol in each hand.

A juggler wows with a one-handed juggling of three clubs. A tightrope walker bounces back and forth between two crossed ropes. A clown performs a comedy springboard act, flipping a teddy bear into a chair atop his head. 

Elsewhere in the show, a male and female aerial routine is romantically dressed with candelabras flickering around the ring and a female vocalist singing a romantic ballad while a pianist plays a baby grand beside the ring doors, conjuring the feel of a cabaret supper club.

Just as Ringling has ditched its animals - and with them a whiff of controversy that has dogged the circus industry for decades - this is the first year that the Big Apple Circus has featured only human performers. Last year's show featured just one act with small dogs, and it looked like a token reminder of a bygone era of entertainment.

And yet, the ghost of circus past haunts the Lincoln Centre's tent this Christmas. The strangest act in the show features three performers dressed as polar bears. These aren't the big, jolly cartoon-like costume characters that lumber around the ring at Zippos Christmas Circus in London, however.

The Roncalli bears move on all-fours like real bears. Guided by a female trainer with a whip, they recreate a traditional polar bear act, standing on their hind legs on podiums and walking across a see-saw.

It looks like a dream sequence, a memory of circus as it was... and anyone who finds circuses creepy may well find it disturbing! I can't see anyone who disliked the idea of animals being 'forced to perform'  enjoying this reminder of what they came to an all-human circus to avoid. But then, maybe circus directors can't help giving us a little shiver now and then. As much as the industry decries the image of cruel lion tamers and scary clowns, perhaps there is a little dark corner of the circus' heart that enjoys being sinister.

Playing to that other-worldly image of mysterious circus people, the show concludes with a bewitching bubble-blowing act by Paulo Carillon, a steampunk clown who drives into the ring in a bizarre vehicle apparently made from scrap metal that, being a former engineer, he made himself.

His moodily lit act shows the artful beauty that can be created by a clown in a tent. And then, after that spell-binding moment, everything is suddenly all light and colour again for the full-cast finale.

It's a show that truly takes us on a journey, through a multitude of moods and, alongside the completely different but in its own way just as impressive Ringling show, suggests that the American circus industry is on the upswing into a bright new era.

New Yorkers certainly seem to be lapping it up, with Roncalli's run extended by two weeks until 15 January.

 

Who will fill their circus shoes? RIP Phillip Gandey, John Haze, Gerry Cottle and Nell Gifford

It was a shock this week to hear of the death of Phillip Gandey (pictured above with the cast of Gandeys Circus) at the tragically young age of 67.

When I interviewed Gandey for The Stage in 2020, he was a man full of life. Having just reopened three big tops in Butlins holiday centres, after lockdown restrictions were lifted, his one regret was that he didn't have his usual "five or six" shows simultaneously running in locations from the Edinburgh Festival to the Far and Middle East.

Gandey was born into the circus world. A clown aged three, and a knife-thrower at 11, he inherited his father's circus and became the world's youngest circus director at 17.

With his wife, Carol, he established Gandey World Class Productions as the UK's premier exporter of circus shows. When Gandeys Circus stopped using animals in the early 1990s, Gandey became one of the industry's great innovators, seeking fresh ideas to fill the gap left by big cats and elephants.

He brought a Chinese troupe of acrobats to the UK and created the Chinese State Circus, which became one of the country's most successful touring shows. He also created the cabaret-style Lady Boys of Bangkok, Cirque Surreal, Spirit of the Horse and the fundraising Circus Starr (which you can read about here).

One of his newest creations, the circus-on-ice show Snow Storm 3 is currently delighting audiences at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. His Great Circus of Europe, meanwhile, has toured Hong Kong, Singapore, and is currently in the Arab Emirates.

Gandey's passing leaves a huge hole in the circus world, and follows the loss of another great British showman, John Haze, who died in April this year at almost exactly the same young age.

Haze, like Gandey, was both artistic director and businessman, creating the long-running success story the Circus of Horrors and currently the UK's biggest big top show, Circus Extreme (read my review here).

Sadly, it was only a couple of years ago that both Haze and Gandey were paying tribute to another great showman, and a collaborator with both of them, Gerry Cottle, probably the best-known name in UK circus since the 1970s, who died in January 2021, aged 75.

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson
with Gerry Cottle (left) and John Haze.

It was not long before that, that the circus world was shocked by the loss to cancer of Nell Gifford, aged just 46. (Read her story here)

Nell Gifford

In the space of four years, Britain has lost four of the most important circus impresarios of modern times. Each was an innovator and energiser, breathing new life into a world of big top and circus ring that was created in London by Philip Astley more than 250 years ago. 

They formed a generation of circus-producing talent fit to be remembered alongside their predecessors in earlier eras: Billy Smart, the Chipperfields, Bertram Mills, Lord Sanger and Astley himself. 

Like four king poles, Gandey, Haze, Cottle and Gifford lifted the tent of British circus high. But with their departure, the big top will not fall.

Although all four were driving forces and figureheads, they were not one-person companies. Each left behind a creative team and/or family members to carry on their legacy. Giffords Circus, the Circus of Horrors and Circus Extreme continue to tour without their creators and the many shows of Phillip Gandey will doubtless do likewise, capably overseen by Carol Gandey and their daughters.

We still have another of our greatest showmen, Martin 'Zippo' Burton, whose twin shows in Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland this Christmas reveal the Zippos brand to be at the top of its game.

And a new generation of circus blood is rising, inspired by the generation that came before. People like Tracy Jones who ran away with the circus when she was 15 and learned her craft having knives thrown at her by Phillip Gandey himself. Jones travelled the world with Gandeys Circus, an apprenticeship that stood her in good stead to start her own show, Circus Funtasia, which is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Also on the ascent are Paul and Irina Archer who spent many years working with Haze in behind-the-scenes roles on the Moscow State Circus and Circus Extreme before launching their own colourful and contemporary-styled big top show Circus Cortex two years ago. The show is currently starring at the indoor Kingdom of Winter attraction at ExCel London. 

Around the country, Planet Circus, Circus Zyair and Big Kid Circus are providing top drawer circus entertainment to big audiences in what feels like a thriving scene.

It's easy to see the passing of giants like Phillip Gandey, Haze, Cottle and Gifford as the end of an era. But in the circus, there are no ends. The show will always go on. And as much as they will be missed, I'm sure that Gandey, Haze, Cottle and Gifford would want it no other way.

 

Review: Cirque Berserk, Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park, 2023

 

If you've been to Zippos Christmas Show (read my review here) you might have glimpsed a Globe of Death behind the curtains and wondered why it wasn't used. Well, the Globe is for Zippos' other show, Cirque Berserk, which is playing three shows each evening in the same venue. Yep, there are SIX circus performances every day at Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland.

Cirque Berserk was designed to be a high-octane theatre show (although it works perfectly well in the in-the-round setting of the big top). It has a completely different aesthetic to Zippos traditional circus style and the tent is completely redecorated between afternoon and evening - or, rather, completely stripped out to create the black box style backdrop associated with 'cirque'-style shows.

Gone are the Christmas lights that cover the king poles in the Christmas show. Gone is the ring curb, removing all barriers between audience and action. The ring doors (curtains) are pulled back, leaving the Globe of Death visible in the background at all times.

Gone, too, are the cheery Christmas songs, replaced by a percussion-driven contemporary soundtrack. Moody lighting bathes the edge-less performing area in hazy shades of blue, purple and pink.

The line-up of acts is also completely different.

What Berserk has in common with the Christmas Show is the amount of high quality circus stunts it packs into its compact, fat-free 45-minute running time, and the slickness with which it transitions between the acts, leaving not a second's pause in the action.

The acts in fact overlap, with one set of performers arriving as another leaves.

The show begins with an energetic display of overhead bar gymnastics. The routine is best viewed from the side where you can really see the guys and gal swinging around the bars.

No sooner have the gymnasts dropped to the ground and begun to collapse their apparatus, than a motorcyclist roars into view above them, with a trapeze artist performing on a cradle beneath him. The high wire artists' most crowd-wowing stunt sees biker and trapeze artist revolving around the wire, with him passing under it as she swings over it.

When the bike backs out of sight, Ludvik Novotny is already atop a platform centre stage, ready to impress with his rola-rola routine.

Another of the show's seamless transitions is achieved by a two-man balancing act (pictured above) performing in part atop a ramp and platforms that will be used by the BMX stunt bike trio that follow them.

The balancers conclude their act with a neat fall from a human pyramid to a pair of forward rolls and exit via an aisle through the audience as the BMXers ride into the ring behind them.

The highlight of the BMX routine sees a female performer lie in a star shape on the floor while a rider, standing up on one wheel, hops his bike around and over her, missing her limbs by inches.

It's a stunt reminiscent of an elephant stepping over their trainer's assistant in the world of circus past, and is one of those apparently dicing with death circus moments that really ramps up the tension in an audience.

Is the danger to the woman in this stunt really greater than that of the aerial artists performing on silks and chains elsewhere in the show? Or the daredevil motorcyclists circling inside the Globe of Death? It's hard for the audience to judge, but I would argue that it feels greater. We don't have the experience of being up on the silk while possessing the skill those artists have, and part of their job is making it look easy, rather than precarious. But we can imagine how it would feel to trust your safety to a bloke on a bike and how it would feel if his wheel and weight accidentally landed on your arm, or your stomach... or your head. 

I wouldn't like to lie there, put it that way - and it's that empathic reaction that really connects the performance to the audience.

On a lighter note, the tall Whimmy Walker and the 3-foot-tall Paulo Dos Santos make a great clown duo, entering on a bouncy motorcycle and a tiny bike. Their tramp-style costumes and absence of traditional clown make-up fit perfectly with the contemporary cirque style while they mix juggling skills with traditional slapstick. Paulo is a sometime Ringling star and Whimmy's great-great-grandfather clowned for Queen Victoria, so they both know exactly what they're doing.

Elsewhere in the show is a crossbow act and a couple of aerial routines with three artists in the air at the same time, the central performer on chains or hanging from her hair, while the other two perform on silks to either side of her. The result is much stronger visually than having just one aerialist in the ring, which is often the case with such acts.

The shaven-headed Alexandr Shpilevoy displays masterful control in an elegant, dramatic and accomplished Cyr wheel act. The act ends with him backing away into the shadows while his hoop continues to spin alone in the spotlight. It's a very striking visual image.

The show concludes with the ever-lurking Globe of Death being brought forward into the centre of the ring.

As I said in my review of Planet Circus (which you can read here), the Globe is not my favourite stunt. The fact that EVERY circus seems to end with one has made it too commonplace for my liking.

The one at Berserk is well lit, however, and looks good close-up from front row. The show also adds a couple of twists. A ballerina stands in the centre of the cage and lets one of the motorcyclists snatch a feather from her hand as the bikes revolve around her. Then, when the stunt riders have left, Paulo Dos Santos enters the globe on a miniature motorbike and roars around the inside while the rest of the company come out to take a bow.

It's a nice end to a fast-flowing show that crams 90 minutes worth of acts into 45 and delivers outstanding value for money. Is it better or worse than Zippos Christmas Show in the afternoon? The two shows are as different as apples and oranges and equally outstanding. Any circus fan heading for Hyde Park this winter would miss out if they didn't see both.

Cirque Berserk has shows at 18:00, 19:30 and 21:00 each day except Christmas Day until 31 December.

Review: Zippos Christmas Circus, Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park, 2023

Christmas adds its own magic to any form of entertainment, from concerts to romcoms, and the circus is no exception. Zippos Christmas Show, nestled within Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, covers its usual fun for all the family with a snowfall of all the expected Yuletide delights: Snowballs, dancers in Santa hats, giant polar bear costumes, feel-good Christmas songs like Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Coming To Town, clowns dressed as elves and even a climatic appearance by an enormous inflatable Father Christmas. 

To walk into any big top is a magical experience, a gateway to another world, but with king poles draped in frosty silver Christmas lights, and a ring backdrop of scenery marked Elf Workshop and Reindeer House, the tent becomes a grotto - you get your money's worth just by walking in! 

But London's favourite circus delivers more than Christmas wrapping and the Hyde Park edition is more than a sideshow to the surrounding Winter Wonderland. Zippos recently became the UK's first tenting circus to be awarded the Big Top Label - the quality certificate of European circuses - and it packs more genuine circus action into a fast-moving 45 minute running time than most deliver in a full-length show.

Immediately following the ensemble opening spectacular, football juggler Rafael de Carlos sets the bar high. The climax of his act sees him drop a ball from the back of his neck, give it a backwards kick with his heel onto the top of his head and from there onto the top of a ball already spinning on one finger, so he has two balls spinning one on top of each other.

The charismatic La Loka puts the circus into a jazzy song and dance routine by flipping onto her hands and performing an upside down tap dance. 

Speaking of flipping, the Garcia Sisters put on a stylish display of tumbling, with big squashy gymnastics balls as props. In the climax of their routine, they wow the audience by taking turns to perform a line of continuous forward flips and back flips while holding the balls above their heads and using them as springboards for each flip.

The routine begins with one of the sisters performing high in the air on a trapeze hoop before descending to the ground for the gym ball routine. It's an example not just of the versatility of circus stars but of how to seamlessly transition a show between aerial and ground routines.

Another example of a good transition is clown duo Mr N and Timoni coming on to 'clean up' the stage with a mop and bucket skit after the bubble blowing act of Joel Farias. Maybe one of them actually was mopping up some sticky liquid spillage at the back while the other came to the front and entertained the crowd with the head falling off his mop, allowing the removal of props while the show continued without a pause.

Vlad and Viktoria blend ground-based acrobalance with aerial straps (performed solo and as a duo) in an engrossing and highly skilled acrobatic ballet set to suitably solemn music.

In contrasting mood is the climatic skipping and tumbling act of the 11-strong Mongolian Warriors. Their tricks include a three-man-pyramid that jumps over the rope as one on one turn of the rope, with the top man performing a solo somersault above the rope on the next turn.

The sheer number of performers in the Warriors' troupe is important. A circus ring is a big space under a high roof and on many shows a succession of solo acts can appear dwarfed by it, making the bill as a whole look sparse and threadbare, even if the individual acts are good. Lighting effects often amplify the emptiness of the space, rather than reduce it.

A ring full of performers always looks better, giving the impression of a big production. The Mongolian Warriors fill the ring with life and colour and also considerably swell the number of people in the ring during the opening and closing ensemble numbers, adding to the party mood. 

Elsewhere in the show, the four dancers in their sparkling Christmas dresses, provide a colourful (but not distracting) backdrop to the tumbling of the Garcia Sisters - and serve a purpose, rolling the gym balls back to the performers.

At other points, the clowns and ringmaster Chris Barltrop remain in view at the back of the stage during the acts, reacting to the action - and subtly directing the attention and reactions of the audience. The clowns also lead the giant polar bears around. It all adds to the appearance of a busy ring and a big company, and turns a string of acts into a cohesive show.

The result is not only thoroughly entertaining but a masterclass in how to produce a traditional circus.

 

Zippos Christmas Circus is performing three shows a day at 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00 until 1 January.

 

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.

 

Review: The Greatest Show On Earth, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey, 2023

The biggest circus story of 2023 was the return of The Greatest Show on Earth. It's a show with 150 years of history behind it. The name is known throughout the world, evoking huge tents with three rings in a golden age of entertainment. Even the names of the men behind it - the Ringling Brothers and PT Barnum - now immortalised on film as The Greatest Showman - are legendary.

But history can also be baggage, anchoring a name or concept in the past while the world changes and fashion moves on. By the 2010s, the Ringling show was on the wrong side of history. The elephant parade that was part of its brand belonged to a time when such things were uncontroversial. By 2016 they were the cause of protest, lawsuits and legislation that made them nonviable in the world of commercial entertainment.

Ringling ditched the elephants but also lost its audience and closed the following year, after 146 years on the road.

Could it come back, after a six year break, with a new all-human look and reclaim its throne as the Greatest Show on Earth?

For me, as a British observer, the show's challenge was filling arenas that seat 20,000 people. Not just filling all those seats, but filling a vast performance space more suited to sports events.

In Europe, we're accustomed to the intimacy of the big top. A circus tent that folds snugly around its spotlit ring is a magical place in its own right. Part of the appeal is the closeness of the action. In the front row, the trapeze artists swing over our heads. The clowns are close enough to squirt us with water. We can see the trembling of a straining muscle and the sweat on a performer's brow. Can a man balancing on a rola-rola be as involving when he's a distant stick figure?

I've watched the Ringling show several times on YouTube videos shot from various positions in the arena and it's clear that some seats feel a long way from the action. If you're at one end of the arena, a hoop jumping act at the far end is hard to even see, let alone feel the physicality in the way that you would if it was happening just feet from you.

At the same time, though, arena seating can offer a new perspective. In the highest seats - and the cheapest, perhaps? - you can sit above the high wire artists and look down on them, instead of looking up at them. You can sit at the level of the flying trapeze platforms and watch the flyers swoop down away from you into the well of the arena. It's a refreshingly different angle and might it even convey a greater sense of height than viewing such acts from the ground?

Ringling, in any case, was staging shows in three-ring tents this size 100 years ago, and moved into arenas in the 1950s, so they (or Feld Entertainment, to credit the current operators) know how to work the space. 

At the start of the show, an impressive number of performers run out to fill the arena floor. 75 of them, although with all the colour and movement it looks like more. Lauren Irving belts out the stirring and catchy theme song, 'Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth' and a blaze of swirling lighting effects quickly whips a substantially full auditorium into a celebratory atmosphere.

The centrepiece of the arena is a raised ring-cum-stage. Shaped like an upturned bowl, it has sloping sides that form a ramp for access and continuously changes colour while displaying moving patterns across all its surfaces. It also has a moving track within its top, allowing some props and performers to revolve while others stand still, and a central disc that can be raised on hydraulic lifts to put the spotlight on a rola-rola or balancing act.

A British circus like Gandeys or Circus Extreme really needs to get one of these illuminated stages, which would look great within a big top, and perhaps even better than it does in an arena.

There are additional raised square stages at each end of the building, which give patrons in the end seats a close-up view of particular acts, such as a very strong skipping act, with several people standing on each others' shoulders while they jump the rope.

The area around the stages is laid out like a skate park that is used to great effect by a team of stunt cyclists, who swarm about, drawing our eye this way and that across the huge space, and turn impressive somersaults as they fly off the scattered ramps.

Comedy is provided by Equivokee, a trio from Ukraine. I'm not going to complain about the lack of red noses and clown make-up, although some traditionalists have. For me, slapstick is about more than make-up, as Laurel and Hardy proved a century ago. The funniest thing on UK TV at the moment is a children's programme called Danny and Mick which stars Danny Adams, Mick Potts and Clive Webb - the stars of Cirque du Hilarious. They dress as normal people while doing all the old clown routines like the wallpaper routine, and make them funnier than ever.

I can't say that Equivokee made much of an impression on me, but I think that was less their fault than the size of the arena. Clowning works best close up when you can see the facial expressions and the twinkle in an eye, and when the jesters are engaging directly with - or picking on! - the audience. At a distance, the humour evaporates within too much space.

Luckily, the Greatest Show on Earth fields plenty of 'big' acts that make good use of the space and height available.

A triangular high wire act by the Lopez Family is apparently a world first. It's such a simple and visually impressive concept that it's a wonder no one has thought of it before. Instead of performers crossing a single wire, there are performers simultaneously doing different things on three wires arranged in a triangle.

It's an act that would fit neatly above the ring of a big top, and which a UK circus should import, although it comes with additional challenges. According to Maria Lopez, the walkers have to cope with vibrations coming from the other wires.

Another big act that perfectly fits the space, and another update on an old theme, is a criss-crossing flying trapeze routine by the Flying Caceres. With two sets of performers crossing paths it literally adds another dimension - depth, towards us and away from us - to an act that usually only draws our eye from side to side.

The Nevas Troupe perform side-by-side on a Double Wheel of Destiny (a pair of what used to be called the Wheel of Death - because people have died performing it). They make impressive leaps atop the spinning contraptions and the release of fireworks adds to the thrills. One performer makes a daring leap between the two wheels and back again. That is the only moment, though, that two wheels is better than one. I found myself watching only one as it was difficult to watch two at the same time, and that made having two a little pointless. That one leap between them aside, I wonder if it would be better to separate the wheels and have one at each end of the arena, so that everyone would get a better view of at least one of them, rather than confining the pair to one end.

Speaking of world firsts, Wesley Williams rides the world's tallest unicycle as confirmed in the Guinness World of Records. The 34-foot-tall contraption, which is the equivalent of sitting astride a three-storey-tall ladder that isn't resting against anything (and is in fact balanced on a wheel!) puts his head right up among the lights in the roof.

It's true that he doesn't ride it very far, just back and forth across the width of the arena. Imagine if he could do a lap of honour around the whole building! He also wears a visible safety wire, but who can blame him?

But what about the absence of animals, which has offended some old school fans? Did I miss the parade of rubber mules that were Ringling's trademark? No, I didn't.

In the past, I have championed animals in the big top, and I enjoyed seeing what will probably be the last elephants and big cats to appear in a British circus. But that was a decade ago. The UK circus has almost entirely moved on from animals and, dare I whisper it among circus fans, it's better for it.

When I began reporting on the circus scene, the industry was up to its neck in the animal issue. There were pickets at the gates and negative press. Even the circuses without animals were compelled to talk about them. The image of the big top was so bad that many people hated circuses without ever seeing one. The ageing proprietors were embattled and embittered. It was no atmosphere in which to stage bright, happy family entertainment. The business was being sucked down like a man dying in quicksand.

Today, with the animals almost entirely gone, and no one even talking about them anymore, the circus feels like it has been reborn. The shows have a clean, modern aesthetic, with stages and floored seating replacing sawdust and mud. The negative image has evaporated, and audiences bring their kids without having to worry about ethics. The atmosphere in the shows and among a new generation of show-runners is invigorated and forward looking. The scene feels like it's thriving.

The new Ringling show feels like that, too, and maybe enough time has passed for it to find a new audience without alienating its old one.

And yet, Ringling hasn't copied Cirque du Soleil, the first big show to pioneer the idea of a circus without animals. The Greatest Show on Earth has not been produced in the style of 'new circus' - a format that once, and perhaps still does, sat apart from the big top kind, with both parties disliking each other in equal measure.

Ringling has not switched camps. There is no story line here, no theme, no message, no attempt to dress circus up as art. It is a traditional circus - perhaps we could say New Traditional - in the sense of providing colourful spectacle and uncomplicated family fun. It's only aim is to entertain, and it does so in abundance.

Although the acts aren't linked, they flow effortlessly from one to the next and the feel-good spirit will send you home singing "Welcome to the Greatest Show on earth!" Reader, I've been singing it all week!

The finale is 'human rocket' Skyler Miser. It's a simple act, but one guaranteed to put a smile on the face. As Skyler steps into her cannon, the whole arena chants the countdown: "Ten, nine, eight..." I even chanted it aloud at home: "Five, four, three..."

Boom! Like the immortal spirit of the circus, Skyler flies the length of the arena and lands on an inflatable crash pad.

Irving signs off with the company's slogan, which has become the salutation of circus worldwide: "May all your days be..." But wait! Instead of saying, "circus days," she says, "may all your days be Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey days!"

Has the image of circus become so tarnished in America that the Felds won't even utter the C-word? The word is conspicuously absent from the description of the show on their website.

This is a circus, however, and one that deserves to put the shine back on the word. In fact, I would go so far as to say that in 2023 it is currently the Greatest Circus on Earth.

For tour dates and tickets, click here.