Short Story: One Day In The Future

What would Philip Astley, the Father of the Circus, make of today’s animal-free big top? Find out in this timeslip story by Douglas McPherson, which originally appeared in My Weekly. In 1794, flames lit up the night sky. Astley’s Amphitheatre, the greatest hippodrome in London, was ablaze. The streets south of Westminster Bridge were full of smoke and running men. Philip Astley hadn’t seen such chaos since the war against the French, which he’d fought his way through on horseback, sword in hand. At least he’d got all the horses out of the arena, and the people, with no lives lost. The business he’d built for twenty years, he couldn’t save. Choked with smoke and physically spent, England’s greatest showman staggered into a dark lane. He fell against a wall and then to the ground. His world dissolved into blackness. Two-hundred-and-thirty years later, the sun rose over a man laying on the pavement. He opened his eyes and blinked. “Patty?” He grabbed the wrist of the woman leaning over him. “I’m not Patty, sir, I’m Jane – a paramedic.” “The fire!” The man’s eyes appeared to focus. “Where’s Patty?” “What fire is that, sir?” It had been a long shift, but Jane hadn’t heard of any conflagrations in the area. “My amphitheatre! It was ablaze.” “Try to stay still, sir, until I see if you're injured.” Jane put the man at around 50 – twice the age of the typical male she found passed out on a pavement after a party. He’d clearly been to some kind of event. He wore knee-high black boots, white breeches and a short red tunic with rows of gold braid across the front, like a member of a marching band. His clothes and face were smeared with soot and he smelt of smoke. “Can you tell me your name, sir?” “Philip Astley.” “As in the man who invented the circus?” Jane realised his clothes were a circus outfit. “Yes, that’s me,” he said without smiling. “Fancy dress party, was it? So what’s your real name?” “That is my real name!” Brushing aside her protests, he climbed to his feet. He was tall and powerfully built. “Where am I?” “Cornwall Road, Lambeth,” Jane told him. “I don’t recognise these buildings.” Philip’s eyes widened as a car sped past Jane’s ambulance, which was parked on the kerb. “What in the name…? Carriages without horses?” “I think you may have hit your head,” said Jane. “Can you tell me the date?” “The 17th… no, that was yesterday. The 18th of September, 1794.” “Try adding a couple of centuries,” said Jane. “It’s the 18th of September ….2024.” “What nonsense do you speak?” Philip demanded. “Does it look like 1794 to you?” Jane asked. “No.” Philip rubbed his chin. “It does not.” A thunderous rumbling made him spin around. He watched in wonder as a train rolled over a bridge. “Is this witchcraft?” he mused. “But hold on! If this is the future, how would you recognise my name and know of my circus?” “My dad’s a circus fan,” Jane grinned. “And there’s a blue plaque over there.” Philip followed her pointing finger along the pavement. High on the orange brick wall was a blue disc.

ASTLEY’S

Philip and Patty Astley first staged spectacular horse-riding feats nearby in 1768.

Adding acrobats and clowns they created what we know as

CIRCUS

Cupped in the bottom of the circle were the words 250th anniversary 2018. Philip stared at the memorial like a man who had found his own grave. Jane gazed at him and shivered. She’d never believed in ghosts or time travel, but an icy feeling was making her pulse race. Taking out her phone, she looked up Astley’s Wikipedia page. “Sir, what is your date of birth?” “8th of January, 1742,” he answered automatically. “Place of birth?” “Newcastle-under-Lyme.” Jane’s throat tightened as she checked the information. “When did you open your amphitheatre?” “Twenty years ago, in 1773.” “And your riding school before that?” “Just after the war. 1768.” “What regiment did you serve in?” “The Light Dragoons,” Philip snapped. “Why?” Jane thought it was a lot of backstory for a fancy dress party-goer to memorise. But he couldn’t really be Astley, could he? Jane stared queasily at the date Astley’s first amphitheatre had burned down: it would have been last night, 230 years ago. “Do you have any ID on you?” she asked. “ID?” Philip frowned, as if she'd used a foreign word. “Anything in your pockets that might help us… clear this up.” He checked, and Jane prayed he would find a driving licence that would prove he was John Ordinary, born in the 1970s. “Looks like I have just a few farthings to my name.” Jane looked at the coins in his palm. The pavement wobbled beneath her. She was no coin collector, but she knew at a glance that the money was 18th century. “I think we should have a doctor take a look at you,” Jane said carefully. “A ride in your horseless carriage?” Philip flashed a showman’s grin. “If this is a dream, I might as well enjoy it.” Late that afternoon, Philip stood in a hospital gown, staring from an upstairs window at a London he didn’t recognise. The dream that he’d begun to enjoy had long lost its novelty. He wondered impatiently if he would ever wake – and, more worryingly, if he was dreaming at all. The door of his room opened and he turned to see Jane. She’d changed from her paramedic overalls to a jumper and long skirt. “Ah, a visitor to the lunatic asylum.” Amid all the confusion of the day, Jane had been a kindly presence and he was glad to see her again. She reminded him of his darling Patty: a strong, capable woman. When he’d set out his first ring in the open air on Lambeth marsh, Patty had played the drum while he performed tricks on horseback, standing on the galloping animal’s back with his sword brandished aloft. Patty had ridden her own horse in the show – side saddle with no reins and her hands in the air, gloved in two swarms of bees that buzzed around her, to the amazement of the crowd. “It’s not an asylum, it’s a hospital,” Jane gently corrected him. “An asylum is where you think I belong, though, isn’t it?” Philip said grimly. “You all think I’m mad – and perhaps I am.” “Not mad. Maybe confused.” Jane said it without conviction, because it was she who was baffled. “I’ve brought your clothes. Freshly dry cleaned.” She put his tunic, shirt and breeches on the bed. They’d turned out to be not a costume. Not the modern fancy dress type, anyway. A silk label inside the tunic identified its tailor and date of manufacture: 1790. She supposed it could be an antique, but it looked almost new. “The doctor did a DNA test and there’s no record of you anywhere,” Jane said. “You don’t match any missing persons. The address you gave no longer exists.” “Then I’m to be locked up here?” “You’re not a prisoner. You’re free to go at any time,” said Jane, although she wondered where he could go with just a handful of 18th century change. “I’d be better off locked up.” Philip indicated a newspaper he’d been reading. “Out there seems to be the madhouse.” “The doctor recommends you stay here a few days to see if…” Jane stopped herself saying, “... you remember who you really are.” “In the meantime,” she said, “I had an idea, and the doctor agreed it might be worth a try. We wondered if you’d like to go to the circus?” It was a balmy evening, with the sun just setting, as they walked across the heath towards the lights of a red-and-yellow big top. On Jane’s right were her husband and two children. On her left, Philip and her dad, Mike, were locked in lively conversation. She smiled at the sound of the two men getting on so well, as her dad filled Philip in on 250 years of circus history. Mike didn’t believe for a moment that he was talking to the real Philip Astley, but he could talk about the circus for hours with anyone who would listen – and he seldom met anyone who was prepared to! “Look how popular your creation remains!” Mike enthused as they joined the crowd converging on the tent. At the entrance they were met by an usher wearing a similar tunic to Philip’s. “Are you a circus man?” the usher asked. “Indeed I am.” “Which show?” “My own: Philip Astley’s!” “Good one, mate!” The usher laughed. “Enjoy the performance.” They took their seats at ringside and Jane began to doubt her reasoning behind the outing. Would taking Philip to a circus really break his delusion that he invented the entertainment – or might it deepen his belief? And how realistic was her other half-formed hope, that a confused homeless man might find refuge in a business where he thought he belonged? She wondered if he actually had any skills to offer a travelling show. The show began and Jane cast sideways glances at Philip. The lights gleamed in his eyes as he watched transfixed the clowns, tightrope walkers and trapeze artists. “What do you think of it?” she asked between acts. “No horses,” he said, sadly. “But even so…” “Instead of horses, there are bikes!” Mike beamed. They watched a quartet of Chinese girls pedal around the ring, then stand on their saddles – no hands! – the way Astley had stood on horseback centuries before. At the end of the show, the packed audience rose in a standing ovation. Philip thumbed his eyes. “I’m quite overcome. Excuse me. I need a little air.” He left his seat and Jane touched her dad’s arm. “You’d better keep an eye on him.” “Of course.” It took a while for the audience to file out. When Jane and her family emerged on the dark heath, she looked around for her dad and Philip – and saw only her dad. “Where is he?” “I’m sorry, Jane, I lost sight of him.” For the next half hour they searched inside and outside the tent until there was no one left around but the circus staff, none of whom had seen Philip. “He can’t have disappeared,” said Jane’s husband. Trembling in the chill, Jane wondered if he had – as mysteriously as he’d arrived. In the dark grass, something glinted. She picked it up: a bronze farthing. It was the last trace she ever found of the man who thought he was Philip Astley. Philip opened his eyes and blinked in the morning sun. The air stank of smoke, but there was no roar of fire – the inferno must have burnt itself out. A woman leaned over him. “Patty?” “Oh, Philip, you’re all right!” His wife’s face was streaked with tears. “I searched all night and couldn’t find you. I must have walked past this very –” He cut her off by pulling her to him and kissing her lips with a deeper gratitude than he had ever felt before. “I’m back!” His eyes soaked up the familiar buildings. He climbed to his feet. “I had the strangest dream… or was it a vision, a glimpse of a possible tomorrow?” “The amphitheatre is completely destroyed.” Patty’s eyes were empty. “Then we’ll rebuild it! Come, Patty,” he took her hand. “We have history to make.” About to lead her away, the showman paused and frowned. For a moment he thought he’d seen something on a nearby wall. A blue plaque… But no, it was a shadow. Shrugging, he put his free hand into his pocket and was surprised to find a small piece of paper.

He took it out: a ticket. On it was printed: Zippos Circus, 18.09.2024.

Woke war on Christmas! Review of Big Apple Circus, Hometown Playground

Has Christmas gone out of fashion? In London's Winter Wonderland, Zippos' seasonal show is the distinctly un-Christmassy (but distinctly classy) Candyland - read my review here. Well, I guess the venue is 'Winter' Wonderland, not Christmas Wonderland.

Over the pond, meanwhile, Big Apple Circus has also dodged the Yuletide spirit to present Hometown Playground, themed not around Santa's workshop but around the five boroughs of New York.

I can hear the splutters of outrage from the gammons on the right: "Woke war on Christmas! We're not allowed to celebrate Christmas anymore!"

These would be the same people who leave Trip Advisor comments like, "It's not a circus without animals!" Despite the fact that  - news flash! - Hometown Playground includes a poodle act. Yes, animals in the circus. How un-woke is that?? 

Personally, the canine capers of the Cartoon Poodles left me a little cold. While I've championed circus animals in the past, I feel like we closed that chapter of big top history several years ago and it's time to move on. A slick modern, all-human circus just looks better to me these days - the shows certainly look like they're doing better at the box office without all that 'cruel circus' baggage - and the inclusion of the dogs in the Big Apple tent feels like a relic from a bygone age. Especially after the resounding success of last year's all-human Big Apple show, which was provided in collaboration with Circus Theatre Roncalli - read my review here.

Maybe I'm just too woke.

But hey, the circus was woke before our grandparents were born. The big top was diverse and inclusive before anyone else was. It's always been performed by absolutely everyone for absolutely everyone, and not everyone celebrates Christmas, so why exclude them from a wintertime night out?

Personally, I'm no Scrooge. I actually put up a Christmas decoration this year (just the one, but it's on my front door, so not like I'm hiding it). But I'm not fussed about a lack of tinsel in the circus as long as it's a good show - and Big Apple has served up a (forgive me!) cracker this year.

My favourite act is Alex Petrov who does an upside down walk (pictured above). I guess he's held on by wires rather than magnetic shoes or Spider-Man powers, but he really does look like a human fly as he bounces a ball on his upside down floor, and tries to drink water - which pours down to the real floor.

Speaking of water, America's Got Talent winners the three Human Fountains make a hilarious act out of drinking water and spitting it out.

Another highlight is the slick and acrobatic three-way juggling of the Zsilak Trio Jugglers in their colourful 1960s-style costumes (below).

There are big acts on the bill, too. Antoly Huaman Brazzan is a thriller on the Wheel of Destiny (is that the new woke name for the Wheel of Death?). When he trips on his skipping rope and nearly falls from the top of the huge rotating wheel he draws gasps and screams from an audience on the edge of its seats. He then gets massive cheers when he skips not just successfully but with aplomb, leaping high into the roof of the tent as the wheel revolves.

A hot jazz soundtrack adds to Brazzan's energetic performance. It's the same sort of music they're using at Zippos this year, hot jazz clearly being in fashion if Christmas music ain't.

A Russian swing act, hurling its performers high into a sail-like safety net is similarly impressive, as is the climatic flying trapeze act by the Flying Poemas. Again, an exciting soundtrack adds, well, excitement, with the audience clapping along as the daring young men somersault between the swings.

As the show takes us around New York from Coney Island, where we find ace pick-pocket Michael Halvarson, to Harlem, where Mihret Mekonnen rides a unicycle on the slack wire, a circular gauze curtain is periodically lowered to fully enclose the stage. New York street images of road signs and neon signs are projected onto the gauze in a very pleasing visual effect.

The gauze is also used to surround aerial globe artist Sofia Petrov in the bewitching illusion of falling snow. 

Well, it wouldn't be New York at Christmas without snow - even if the snow falls without a hint of Christmas music.

Hometown Playground is at the Lincoln Centre until 5 January.

 

Zippos' Christmas Treat. Review of Candyland at Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park

Zippos' Christmas show at Winter Wonderland. I know what you're thinking. Christmas songs, Santa hats, snowballs, a giant Father Christmas...

Well, think again. Zippos did that last year, and magnificently - read my review here.

This year, the company has gifted us something completely different. Apart from a jazzed-up snatch of Jingle Bells during the slapstick tumbling routine of the Munoz Brothers, there's nothing Christmassy about Candyland. And yet, with its stage dressing of cakes, chocolate and other sweets, this colourful cabaret-style circus fits perfectly into the holiday season.

Zippos has brought Candyland to London fresh from its debut this autumn at the Roncalli Apollo Theatre in Dusseldorf, complete with original set, props and the husband and wife directing team of Ms Lina Veres and Mr Oleksandr Leshchenko, and with just a few tweaks for UK audiences, such as the familiar face of ringmaster Attila Endresz.

The European theatricality - such as a team of Ukrainian dancers in cake frocks - and an upbeat soundtrack of hot jazz and pop - with a smidgen of pumped up Carmen - gives the production a look and feel refreshingly different from any other big top show in the UK this year.

But it's not just the dressing that makes Candyland a winner. The compact 45 minute run time is full of world class acts that will thrill even seasoned circus watchers.

The opening cradle act by Argentina's Duo Plok (above) gets things off to a cracking start. In all my years of ringside reporting, I haven't seen this act before*. That in itself is a treat, when so many circuses field the same acts as one another, making it hard to tell shows apart.

The male half of the act stands, legs apart, high up on two poles. He takes the hands of his female partner, who is standing on his shoulders, then swings her between his legs, tossing her into a somersault and catching her by the ankles.

The physicality of the act is thrilling, and is perfectly complemented by the energetic music, costuming and facial expressions of the performers. They are actors, in character, as much as they are gymnasts, and their charisma draws us into the show.

Next up, the doll-like Nataliia Gurieva performs a superior aerial hoop routine while hand balancer Serhii Ivanov performs atop a podium decorated as a three-tier cake. The stands he performs on resemble candles on the cake, which adds to the cohesive look of the show.

In a similar way, an elegant low-wire routine by Anna Usakova (who was part of Zippos touring season this year) is augmented by ground-based dancers in flowing golden dresses that match hers.

A definite highlight is the juggling of Dmytro Bakhtin - a superb display of ball handling in itself, but lifted to new showbizzy heights by the novelty of him being dressed as Mozart, complete with onstage piano.

The programme is completed by aerial strap artist Daniel Lakner, the Tangier Troupe of Moroccan acrobats and the aforementioned Munoz Brothers. The latter put a neat twist on the old bucket of water gag by pretending to throw a chair into the audience - a real jump scare for those in the vicinity!

Mention must be made, though, of ringmaster Attila Endresz who adds comedy with a fresh twist on the wandering spotlight routine, ending it with the payoff of a spike through the seat of a descending swivel chair.

Endresz also leads the company in getting the audience to stand up and dance, complete with actions, which by that point, towards the end of a punchy show, everyone is more than willing to do.

It's a moment that brings real warmth and togetherness to a show that I would say is probably the best 45 minutes you'll spend in a big top this year.

Candyland runs three times a day at 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00 until January 5. For bookings, click here.

*Update: I've since learned that Duo Plok's act is also variously called 'Russian cradle' or 'aerial casting'. There's also a 'full' version of the act in which the flyer is tossed between two catchers on opposite sides of the ring. Zippos apparently had such an act a few years ago, and it's definitely one I hope returns to the UK at some point.

 

Olympic gold-winner joins Cirque du Soleil

British trampolinist Bryony Page, who won gold at the Paris Olympics has bounced into a new career by joining Cirque du Soleil.

"I love the idea of performing in the show and using trampoline in a different way," said the Poole-based 33-year-old who hopes to be on tour with Soleil next year.

Page will be following in the footsteps of British gymnast Lucie Colebeck whose story I told here.

 

Ghosts of Circus Past by Tina Glam and the Glam Rockers

A new hard rocking version of a song about the ghosts, real and metaphorical, that haunt the big top.

 

Do not try this at home!

 

Circus star sets two world records

Australian aerial hoop performer Charli Meath set two Guinness World Records this year: Most aerial hoop somersaults in one minute (female) – 53 – and the longest duration shoulder blade hang on aerial hoop - 63.18 seconds

 

Mirror Man at Pinders Circus

The best costume in a British circus ring this year must surely belong to juggler Mirror Man, at Pinders Circus.

 

Sylvia Théron, Hamburg, 1950

 

The Ghosts of Circus Past - a spooky song for Halloween

A ghostly seaside circus

In a ghostly seaside town

A bleak wind blows backstage

Ringmaster wears a frown

It’s here I met an acrobat

Who loved the travelling life

Turned down her boyfriend’s ring

She didn’t want to be a wife

She thought she had another ten

Years in the lights at least

The next day she slipped and fell

A fatal 30 feet

Now she haunts the dressing rooms

Clowns shiver as they pass

They know they’re in the company

Of the ghosts of circus past

They’ve swept away the sawdust

On which the show was made

Swept away the history

Of the elephant parade

But horses were the reason

That the circus ring is round

And they couldn’t sweep away

Their hoofprints in the ground

A former lion tamer

Sells teas and souvenirs

No tigers in the ring today

There haven’t been for years

But she can still feel their breath

Her skin still bear their scars

Forever in the company company

Of the ghosts of circus past

The clowns are still called Joeys

After Grimaldi, King of Clowns

A sad depressed Victorian

Whose makeup hid his frowns

Today they don’t wear whiteface

Or even a red nose

But they know Grimaldi lingers

Still watching over shows

With a hundred long-dead acrobats

For every living one who soars

While outside in the windy night

A ghostly lion roars

So as you find your ringside seat

Keep an eye on those you pass

For you’re surely in the company

Of the ghosts of circus past

 

Come Alive! The Greatest Showman - Run extended to 30 September 2025

Come Alive!, the central London circus featuring songs from The Greatest Showman, is clearly doing well at the box office, with the run now extended until autumn 2025.

 

Philip Astley, the Father of the Circus in This England

The autumn issue of This England features a page by yours truly on how the Father of the Circus, Philip Astley, is being rediscovered in his hometown of Newcastle-under-Lyme, thanks a 40 year campaign by a family of magicians.

The piece also looks into why modern day circus ushers and ringmasters often wear 18th century military style tunics, dripping with gold braid, and the influence Astley had on the development of the fairground carousel.

It's out now.

 

The Greatest Showman is coming to a Big Top in London

 

Come Alive!, a new musical circus show inspired by the film, The Greatest Showman, will be coming to a 700-seat big top at the Empress Museum in London’s Earls Court, beginning performances on 23 September 2024.

The production, created by Simon Hammerstein (grandson of Oscar) will feature all the songs from the movie in a completely new story, and be performed by a mix of circus artists and West End singers.

Gravity Circus UK tour preview

Circus thrives on the new: New tricks, new spectacles, new blood. The first visit to the UK of Italian show Gravity Circus brings all those things, to refresh once again the more than 250-year-old wonder of a circular ring in a big top.

The show that first turned me on to circus was the Summer Spectacular at the Yarmouth Hippodrome. No small part of what captivated me was the water finale in which the ring was transformed into a pool of synchronised swimmers while an aerial straps artist flew through the surrounding fountains.

The transformation dates from the Hippodrome's construction in 1903, when it was first performed by gaslight. There is a similar attraction at the equally venerable Blackpool Tower Circus.

But surely you couldn't stage a water show in a travelling tent?

The answer is that you can do ANYTHING in a big top!

And while Gravity Circus doesn't run to a swimming pool, it is bringing to the UK a circular ring surrounded by fountains that jet small and large streams of water over the performance space, while a fountain erupts from the middle of the stage.

The visual effect as Amanda Togni flies through the gushing water gives Gravity Circus a look that you won't find in any other UK circus outside of the permanent arenas in Yarmouth and Blackpool - and it's that thrill of the different that a travelling show needs.

Among the stars is Silke Pan, a Swiss artist who embodies the tragedy and triumph of the circus. In 2007, Pan fell from the trapeze, broke her back and was paralysed from the waist down. The devastating injury could not rob her of her circus spirit, however.

Making her UK debut this year, the 50-year-old acrobat enters the ring in a wheelchair and is carried to a pedestal by her partner Didier Dvorak. There, accompanied by the moving playing of an onstage violinist, Pan performs an elegant hand balancing act followed by walking on hand stilts.

Elsewhere in the show is a high-wire troupe, rola-rola, cyr wheel and chair balancing, plus an aerial silk routine accompanied by ground-based ballerinas, wafting sheets of fabric to create an ocean-like effect.

 

The show's finale is a refreshing change from the ubiquitous Globe of Death. There is the thrilling roar of motorbikes, yes, but instead of circling inside a cage, they enter the tent on a ramp, leaping over a ring full of dancers and jugglers and passing through the central fountain while fire erupts in rising balls of flame, from around the edges of the stage. 

Gravity Circus begins its UK tour in Lancing on 26 July and will be touring until 1 September.

Don't miss the chance to see a circus that looks like no other.

 

Barnum is back... in Newbury

The circus is back in town in Newbury, where the Watermill theatre is reviving Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart’s 1980 musical, Barnum.

With circus stunts arranged by Amy Panter and dancing choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing’s Oti Mabuse, the show stars Matt Rawle as America's most famous impresario.

The show runs until 8 September.

 

New book from Showbiz David

David H. Lewis, also known as David Lewis Hammarstrom and the blogger Showbiz David, is America's most diligent and penetrating big top-watcher.

His studies of the sawdust circle include Behind the Big Top and Inside The Changing Circus, both of which are essential reading.

He has also penned captivating memoirs such as Big Top Typewriter, which chronicles his lifetime of circus writing, and Hopelessly Hollywood, the story of his efforts to write a musical hit on Broadway.

Out now, is his latest book, Keep That Day Job! in which he details the no less than 50 occupations he has juggled to pay the bills while chasing his circus and musical theatre dreams. They include:

- Cleaning out rental cars in Oakland, and dining high on Park Avenue a few days later, with New York literary agents Bertha Klausner and Clare Booth Luce. 

- Walking a rail yard by night recording box car numbers, and the next, meeting with French mime Marcel Marceau to discuss a Mother Goose screenplay. 

- Typing out letters for a chemical company in Hollywood, and being handed by the office manager a rave review in Variety of his new musical Those Ringlings.  

He's also viewed the American circus from the inside, as a clown and a press representative, and travelled the globe to critique rings in Russia and China. 

David has a colourful writing voice that zings off the page, and his latest book promises to be every bit as thrilling, insightful and revealing as its predecessors.

Keep That Day Job is available from Amazon, here.

 

Coming to London this autumn...

 

I Ran Away With Cirque du Soleil

How gymnast Lucie Colebeck joined the world’s biggest circus and set a dizzying world record.

The modern circus is a place where sport and show business collide.

While some performers graduate from circus schools, many come to the stage from the upper echelons of competitive gymnastics.

That was the case with tumbler Lucie Colebeck (pictured above) who won world and European medals before joining the cast of Cirque du Soleil.

When the world’s biggest circus company brought its show Alegria to the Royal Albert Hall at the start of this year, Lucie stepped into the spotlight to set a world record for performing 36 continuous back handsprings in 30 seconds. 

The decision to go for the record was sprung on the 27-year-old, who normally does only five of the back flips in a row during the show.

“Guinness World of Records contacted Cirque and said, ‘Do you have anyone who would be interested in breaking a record?’” Lucie remembers. “Our publicist said, ‘I think you could do the record for the most back handsprings in 30 seconds.’ I said ‘Yeah, why not? Let's give it a go!’

“We call them ‘spotters’ and, funnily enough, when we were in Japan, just for fun I decided to see how many spotters I could do, and I got 25 before I stopped. So I knew I could do the minimum that they wanted. But when I did 36 I really surprised myself.

“On the day, I was really excited, and my nerves were going crazy. When I started and got up to ten, I thought, ‘Yeah, I have a good pace.’ 

“I counted to 25 and thought, ‘Great, the lady with the stopwatch hasn’t said stop yet, so I’ve got the minimum that I need.’

“After that, I tried to count, but my body was just going and going and going. I had no control of it.

“When I stopped at 36, the room was still spinning. It took me a good five minutes to sit down and relax and get my head around it.

“To say I have a Guinness Record title is incredible. It’s something I never thought I’d have. To do it in the Royal Albert Hall… as a British person, you can’t get any better than that.”

Lucie began taking gymnastics classes when she was nine. Her potential was quickly spotted.

“I was playing around on the trampoline when a coach said, ‘If you join my tumbling squad I can make you the next best tumbler.’ I trained with him for the next fifteen years.”

Lucie was just 11 when she first competed in her age group in the British championships. She went on to compete at European and world level, winning bronze and silver medals.

All the while, she nurtured a dream of running away with the circus.

“I saw my first Cirque du Soleil show at the Royal Albert Hall in 2009, and it was so cool,” Lucie recalls.

“I’d heard that some tumblers go into Cirque du Soleil. But it wasn’t until I watched Alegria a couple of years later, and there were some tumblers in it, that I thought, ‘Maybe this is something I could do.’ That’s when my dream of joining Cirque came alive.’”

Lucie auditioned for the company in London in 2017.

“I wasn’t ready to retire from competitive sport but I’d heard it was good to get your name on their books,” she says.

The following year, she got a call to say Alegria was being updated for its 25th anniversary, would she like to be part of it?

“I said yes right away. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Lucie grins.

Joining the circus meant moving to its headquarters in Montreal, which the young gymnast found hard.

“I’m a real home girl and it was the first time I’d moved out of my family home.

For the first six months I hated it!” she admits. “I loved what I was doing every day, but I hated being so far from home.”

After a long winter of rehearsals, her happiest moment was when her mum and nan flew to Canada to watch the premier of the revamped Alegria.

“My mum is my biggest fan. In my whole career, she only missed one competition. So to have her at my first show was really emotional,” Lucie says.

Since then, Lucie has travelled throughout North America, South Korea, Japan and Europe.

“I’ve been able to travel to places that I didn’t even dream of going to. The beauty of it is that when I went abroad competing, I wouldn’t see anything apart from the gym and the arena. Now, with a month or more in most venues, we have so much more time to explore the cities we go to.”

Although she is travelling 50 weeks of the year, her homesickness was alleviated by having her partner Amy join her on the road.

“In the beginning, Amy was flying back and forth to see me, but half way through the North American tour she managed to get a job with the show, working front of house, so we’re travelling the world together and having a great life.

“Not many people can say they’ve got their dream job,” Lucie concludes. “I’m able to, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

(Lucie Colebeck picture credit: Ollie Colebeck)

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

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.

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 

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!

 

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.

Click here to buy from Amazon.

 

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