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!
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| Alex the Fireman Photo credit: Bina Fellowes Photography |
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