Cal McCrystal Archives - thespyinthestalls.com

★★★½

“an hour of squirm-inducing silliness you’ll want to bring all your friends to”

Recently barred from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Garry Starr is on a mission to save theatre from the pretentious establishment who make Billy Shakes boring. To achieve this, he has under an hour to pack in as many genres as possible, to show, solo, how they should really be performed.

It’s a high-energy romp and a quintessential fringe comedy show. One hour of intensely physical theatre best enjoyed after sinking one or two pints. Both to more heartily laugh at the silliness of it all and to more readily volunteer as Garry’s co-star.

Garry, the creation of Damien Warren-Smith, is endearingly eccentric with his lack of self awareness leading to comic error rather than arrogance. He is full of malapropisms – those who don’t understand the theatre are phallustines; we are told about Starr’s semenal work; and introduced to Placeidon – the god of the sea and after birth. Dressed in Elizabethan ruff and too-tight, knee-length leggings-come-breeches, Warren-Smith as Starr gives us a rendition of what Act 2 Scene 2 of Hamlet would have sounded like in Shakespeare’s day. Then, stripping down to a very small and well-stuffed jock-strap, prances about to show us contemporary dance. It is telling that the piece ends with Garry’s take on Cirque Nouveau – for this show owes more to clowns and jesters than it does to Ibsen or Chekhov.

Acclaimed director Cal McCrystal, responsible for directing an early show for The Mighty Boosh and the physical comedy in One Man, Two Guvnors, is an excellent fit for Warren-Smith’s slapstick. But the audience interaction, general lack of clothing and, at times, full frontal nudity, felt like it owed a lot to shows directed by Dr Brown, like Natalie Palamides’ Laid and Courtney Pauruoso’s Gutterplum. Perhaps that’s not surprising, given both Dr Brown and Damien Warren-Smith, the man behind the character, both trained at the Parisian clown academy Ecole Philippe Gaulier.

The show suffers from the Nanette-ification of comedy, where a set is not complete without its final act reckoning with the struggles that forged it. Here it feels contrived and out of kilter with the rest of the outrageous silliness of the rest of the show. Some comedy, particularly clowning and physical theatre, can just be unashamedly funny.

Nonetheless I was stunned when the show ended that an hour had already gone by. I would happily have kept watching whilst Starr took on kitchen-sink drama or Gilbert and Sullivan. Garry Starr’s high energy dramatics hold up a funhouse mirror to theatre making for an hour of squirm-inducing silliness you’ll want to bring all your friends to.

The Hooley

Chiswick House and Gardens

Reviewed – 24th June 2021

★★★★★

“a carnival of fun, silliness and breath-taking skill and enchantment”

“Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild. With a faery, hand in hand…” The line, from W. B. Yeats’ ‘The Stolen Child’ echoes around the big top, beckoning us into the magical world of Giffords Circus. A Celtic world of faeries and goblins; pixies, elves and leprechauns. Of dragons and unicorns, illusion and dreams. Bohemian and surreal. “… for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand”, continues Yeats’ verse, but the line is unspoken here. There is no need of the reminder: the lure is the cure for the cavalcade of ills that have befallen in the past fifteen months.

It’s Giffords twenty-first birthday this year, and they are certainly celebrating in style with ‘The Hooley’. Founded by Nell Gifford, with her ex-husband Toti, the family circus has changed direction every year, adopting various themes, embracing many cultures, and entertaining over a million people on the way. Nell sadly passed away in 2019, but her vision of a village green, vintage circus lives on. As the sun dips behind the trees, the crowds gravitate towards the main tent, towards an evening of mysticism and fantasy; and a chance not just to watch or imagine, but a chance to be at the centre of it all.

The evening is packed full of highlights, a carnival of fun, silliness and breath-taking skill and enchantment. The irresistible Tweedy the Clown, a Giffords stalwart leads the evening – or rather makes a chaotic stab at it – with his mix of pranks and prowess. Nancy Trotter Landry conjures butterfly wings from her hoops, making it look so effortless, before breaking into song with her ethereal voice. Similarly, aerialist Lil Rice (Nell Gifford’s niece, and successor producer) soars with her voice as she takes flight and floats above us. The fairy dust is sprinkled thick and fast as the acts tumble, fly and leap into the ring: the New Revolution Troupe from Cuba, smiling insanely through their equally insane acrobatics, Jonny Grundy and Manuel Artino, dissolving into their aerial hoop as one; equestriennes Rebecca Musselwhite and Lotte Seal, and the unearthly Andrejs Fjodorous, conducting his flock of doves in an awe-inspiring choreographed routine.

The list goes on, and the spell remains unbroken – even through the moments of pure comedy. And talking dogs, horses, and a cake-loving dragon. And you thought unicorns were mythical? Think again!

The Giffords Circus Band, led by James Keay, underscore throughout and follow the action with precision timing; their melodic presence following us out into the twilight as the show comes to a close. We don’t want to leave, but we know we must. We have lived our childhood dreams of running away with the circus, if only for a couple of hours. ‘We have held the jewel of our childhood up to our eyes’, to paraphrase the late Nell Gifford.

Giffords Circus is that perfect haven, with its mix of spectacle and intimacy. And as we head back to reality, we are buoyed by the certainty that, like the moon and the stars, the circus will return to us, and we can escape once more. On our way home, we flick through the programme and come across a letter; a dedication from Lil Rice ‘for Nelly’.

GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★½

“an hour of squirm-inducing silliness you’ll want to bring all your friends to”

GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 4th December 2023

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Jeromaia Detto

More Southwark Playhouse reviews:

Garry Starr Performs Everything

Garry Starr Performs Everything

Chiswick House and Gardens

Reviewed – 24th June 2021

★★★★★

“a carnival of fun, silliness and breath-taking skill and enchantment”

The list goes on, and the spell remains unbroken – even through the moments of pure comedy. And talking dogs, horses, and a cake-loving dragon. And you thought unicorns were mythical? Think again!

“… As we rake up the sawdust and dance our final dance, we dance it for you dear Nell. We will dance on for you…”

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Andrew Rees

The Hooley

Chiswick House and Gardens until 11th July then tour continues around the UK until September. Visit www.giffordscircus.com for details

Previously reviewed by Joe this year: