Traditional circuses, the likes of which I remember from my childhood, have long since disappeared, and even the European travelling circuses which visit our cities from time to time, don't offer the same variety and have the same style of acts that the wonderful world of Barnum And Bailey had! The most obvious change has to be the lack of live animals, which, for better or for worse, the 'do-gooders' of society have stopped; and few circuses these days have clowns - at least not in the traditional and original way either.
Circus 1903 doesn't have clowns, but what they do do is try to take you back in time, to 1903 to be precise, and recreate the feel of a traditional circus as accurately as possible, albeit they do so on a theatre stage and not in the round of a Big Top. When one thinks of the combination of theatre and circus the mind automatically takes you to the Muscial Barnum, and more recently, The Greatest Showman perhaps. These two shows are musicals in the sense that they have a storyline, a narrative, characters we follow throughout and learn more about them. Here, Circus 1903 has no such pretentions... this is all about the spectacle and specialness of the circus - the magic, the performers, the daring, the artistry.
A semi-circular "Big Top" interior forms a perimeter around the performing area, and with lights, fanfares, and pageantry, the artistes, all dressed in seemingly authentic-looking period costume parade around. There is a Ringmaster (of course), Mr Willy Whipsnade (David Williamson) and he spends some time in the auditorium chatting and doing magic with the young children. Not only does he introduce each act, but he also has acts of his own too, comedy magic, for which he uses young children from the audience each time and each routine is absolutely perfectly timed, considered and executed, delighting the children and having the rest of the audience in fits of giggles. His rapport and obvious love of what he does infectious and totally engaging, and as any good MC must do, he held the show together masterfully.
The acts all come from different parts of the globe.. Russia, Ethiopia, Mongolia, France, Cuba, Brazil, Ukraine... and the company have obviously invested a lot of time and effort in finding the absolute best performers of their specialist art they could. Each act, from acrobats, jugglers, balancing artistes, aerial and contortionist, they were absolutely at the top of their games and there were several moments throughout where I was left open-mouthed in utter wonderment at their mutual trust, skill, precision, finesse and virtuosity.
Natalia Leontieva showed great skill with hoops whilst standing on a large ball; Mikhail Sozonov impressed with his Rola Bola balancing; The Flying Fredonis (Daria Shelest and Vadym Pankevych) made a truly beautiful couple as they showed high-flying and death-defying romance in their aerial display; combining acrobatics and aerial was Les Incredibles (Ivan Fomichev and Maria Boldyreva) as she is hurtled in dizzying circles through the air caught with precsiion every time by Fomichev; The Great Gaston (Francois Borie) was simply the fastest juggler I have ever seen.. incredible; Senayet Asefa Amare was able to dislocate her body and move herself around in ways which seemed simply physically impossible; The Great Rokardy (Rokardy Rodriguez) balanced precariously on metal poles; The Daring Desafios (Joao Siquiera, Luan Vieira, Leonardo Louzada) took jumping on a seesaw to a new level; and The Remarkable Risleys (Ganbayar Munkhbat and Andryei Batbold) finished the evening with thrilling feats of foot-juggling as one of them rotated and bounced around being held and caught on the other's feet. All of these acts were completely amazing and left us, the whole audience, in awe and wonder.
However, the 'highlight' of the circus this evening was the arrival of Queenie and her baby, Karanga. Queenie was the largest elephant I have seen - perhaps she was meant to represent Barnum's Jumbo (?) and the baby elephant playful and delightful. Of course, they were not real, but the puppets were extremely life-like and created a hugely realistic impression handled by expert puppeteers. Both elephants instantaneously garnered the 'Wow factor' and the 'Ahs' from grown-ups and children alike. Huge praise should be given to the designers / makers (Significant Object) and those puppeteers who concealed themselves inside the puppets to bring about this theatrical magic!
In between all of these exciting acts there were a couple of full-company moments where there would be singing and flag-waving, encouraging us all to be in circus-mood. It felt very authentic of the period. Even all the music used for the whole show was specially composed by Evan Jolly and performed by The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (prerecorded this evening, not live). But all the acts were timed to perfection and the act and the music were (excuse the pun) in perfect harmony.
Circus 1903 scores extra bonus points too. This was one of the best - if not the best - family and child oriented show I have seen in a very long time. The inclusion of children and the understanding of the company in the need to engage and enthral the youngsters was second-to-none. Williamson's work as the Ringmaster was masterful with this, and several youngsters sitting close-by were whooping, laughing, cheering and engaging in everything quite audibly and excitably: fantastic! There was just the right mix of spectacle, seriousness, and interspersed with huge dollops of comedy and comedy magic which made for a absolutely perfect recipe for this age group. Not just the young ones though, we were all captivated, from start to finish!
If Circus 1903 comes to your town, go and see it! I simply cannot recommend this show highly enough!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 19/11/19
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